The 'Canadian Citizenship Act' is an
Act of the
Government of
Canada, which came into effect on
July 1,
1947, recognizing the definition of a
Canadian, including reference to them being
British subjects.
History
Before
1947, there was no legal existence of
Canadian citizenship. The first act to deal with
Canadian identity was the
Immigration Act of 1910, but it was merely to facilitate government desire to populate Western
Canada. The
Naturalization Act of 1914 and the
Canadian Nationals Act of 1921 provided a limited definition of a ''
Canadian nationals'' and was made necessary to allow
Canada to participate in the
League of Nations and membership in the
International Court of Justice.
The act also repealed numerous anti-immigration acts enacted in the late
1800s and early
1900s.
This act was superseded on
February 15,
1977 by a new
Citizenship Act which, with various amendments, is still in force. One of the most significant changes to Canadian law in the current Citizenship Act is that
dual Canadian/other citizenship — generally banned prior to 1977 — has become permissible with essentially no restrictions.
- Mikey (Ottawa, Ontario)
Other related acts:
★
Foreign Ownership of Land Regulations
★
Citizenship Regulations, 1993
See also
★
List of Acts of Parliament of Canada
★
Canadian nationality law