our twins were born in New Zealand , my wife is canadian , yes they are canadian by birthright because of their mother , you still need to get confirmed citizenship (which you said you will do ) , we flew to canada with the girls in april , and needed passports sooner than the wait time , so we showed the passport office the tickets , and they fast tracked the application , they sighted my wifes birth cert , and we got a 2 year temporary passport for the girls , . they said the proof of citizenship would take up to a year to confrim , however we got it after 3 months of applying , so get it all done , and you wont have to sponser your child , ... good luck