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Bill C-417

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First Reading

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Declaration of Minister	(2) A written declaration appearing to have been issued by the Minister that certifies the day on which the Minister became aware of the subject-matter of any proceedings is admissible, without proof of the signature or of the official character of the person appearing to have signed it, as evidence of the matters stated in it.
	Regulations
Regulations	51. The Governor in Council may make regulations
	(a) respecting the evidence to be provided for applications and notices under this Act, including medical evidence to establish parentage, and the times when those applications and notices must be made;
	(b) specifying who may make an application under this Act on behalf of a minor;
	(c) fixing fees for
	(i) making applications or notices under this Act,
	(ii) issuing certificates under this Act,
	(iii) providing certified or uncertified copies of documents from the records kept in the course of the administration of this Act or any prior legislation,
	(iv) taking oaths or making solemn affirmations or declarations under this Act or the regulations,
	(v) searching records referred to in subparagraph (iii) and providing documents related to those searches, or
	(vi) making changes to the records referred to in subparagraph (iii);
	(d) providing for the waiver or remission of fees referred to in paragraph (c);
	(e) providing for criteria to determine whether a person meets the requirements of paragraphs 14(2)(c) and (d) and, for that purpose, authorizing the Minister to set questions that apply those criteria;
	(f) providing for the factors to be considered in determining whether the requirements of section 15 have been met;
	(g) respecting the abandonment and withdrawal of applications under this Act;
	(h) defining what constitutes a relationship of parent and child for the purposes of determining entitlement to citizenship under any provision of this Act;
	(i) prescribing, in the case of a person who fails to take the oath of citizenship at the date, time and place appointed for that purpose, the maximum grace period by the end of which the person must have taken the oath;
	(j) prescribing the manner in which a person who is already a citizen may voluntarily reaffirm their loyalty by making and subscribing to the oath in section 2;
	(k) prescribing, for the purposes of any application referred to in section 39, the nature of the evidence that is sufficient, the procedures to follow and the requirements of time;
	(l) prescribing the powers, duties and functions of the Registrar of Canadian Citizenship referred to in subsection 52(2);
	(m) providing for the number of copies of a certificate or declaration or other documents made or issued under this Act or any prior legislation that a person is entitled to have;
	(n) respecting the sending of notices and other documents under this Act, including the requirements for the proof of their sending and the deeming of dates of their having been sent; and
	(o) generally, to carry out the purposes and provisions of this Act.
	Delegation of Minister's Powers
Delegation of authority	52. (1) Anything that is required to be done or that may be done by the Minister under this Act or the regulations may be done on behalf of the Minister by any person that the Minister, in writing, authorizes to act on the Minister's behalf, without proof of the authenticity of the authorization.
Registrar	(2) The Minister may designate any officer or employee of the department over which the Minister presides to act as Registrar of Canadian Citizenship for the purposes of this Act.
Limitation	(3) Only a citizen may act as Registrar of Canadian Citizenship or determine a person's status as a citizen or a person's entitlement to obtain, retain, renounce or resume citizenship under this Act.
	Disclosure
New citizen's name	53. The name of a new citizen may, unless the new citizen objects, be disclosed by the Minister to the Speakers of the Senate and the House of Commons for use by a member of Parliament in whose electoral division, constituency or geographic region the new citizen resides, to congratulate the new citizen on acquiring their citizenship.
	Documentary Requirements
Documents	54. (1) The Minister may prescribe the form of applications, certificates and other documents required for the purposes of this Act.
Applications and notices	(2) The Minister may prescribe the manner and place in which applications are to be made or notices are to be given under this Act.
	DIVISION 5
	STATUS OF CERTAIN PERSONS IN CANADA
	Citizen of the Commonwealth
Citizen of the Commonweal th	55. (1) Every person who, under an enactment of a Commonwealth country other than Canada, is a citizen or national of that country has in Canada the status of a citizen of the Commonwealth.
Citizen of Ireland	(2) Any law or regulation of Canada, unless it provides otherwise, has the same effect in relation to a citizen of Ireland who is not a citizen of the Commonwealth as it has in relation to a citizen of the Commonwealth.
British subject	56. For the purposes of an enactment in force in Canada on and after the coming into force of this section that refers to the status of British subject, the reference to that status is to be regarded as a reference to the status of Canadian citizen or citizen of the Commonwealth or both, as the intent of the provision may require.
	Property and Legal Rights
Property and legal rights	57. Subject to section 58,
	(a) real or immovable property and personal or movable property of every description may be taken, acquired, held and disposed of by a person who is not a citizen in the same manner and in all of the same respects as by a citizen; and
	(b) title to real or immovable property or personal or movable property of every description may be derived through, from or in succession to a person who is not a citizen in the same manner and in all of the same respects as though through, from or in succession to a citizen.
Authority to prohibit or restrict acquisitions of property in a province by non-Canadian s	58. (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province or any other person or authority in a province that the Lieutenant Governor in Council designates may prohibit, annul or in any manner restrict the taking or acquisition directly or indirectly of, or the succession to, any interest in real or immovable property located in the province by persons who are not citizens or by corporations or associations that are effectively controlled by persons who are not citizens.
Regulations	(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province may make regulations that apply in the province for the purposes of
	(a) determining transactions that constitute a direct or an indirect taking or acquisition of an interest in real or immovable property located in the province;
	(b) defining ``corporations or associations that are effectively controlled by persons who are not citizens''; and
	(c) defining ``association''.
Restriction	(3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not authorize or permit the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province or any other person or authority in a province that the Lieutenant Governor in Council designates to make any decision or take any action that
	(a) prohibits, annuls or restricts the taking or acquisition directly or indirectly of, or the succession to, any interest in real or immovable property located in the province by a permanent resident;
	(b) conflicts with any legal obligation of Canada under any international law, custom or agreement;
	(c) discriminates between persons who are not citizens on the basis of their nationalities, except insofar as more favourable treatment is required by any legal obligation of Canada under any international law, custom or agreement;
	(d) hinders any foreign state in taking or acquiring real or immovable property in the province for diplomatic or consular purposes; or
	(e) prohibits, annuls or restricts the taking or acquisition directly or indirectly of any interest in real or immovable property located in a province by any person in the course or as a result of an investment that the Minister is satisfied or is, under the Investment Canada Act, deemed to be satisfied as likely to be of net benefit to Canada.
Offences and punishment	59. (1) Every person who fails to comply with a prohibition, annulment or restriction under subsection 58(1) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $10,000 or to imprisonment for not more than one year, or to both.
Officers, directors or agents of corporations	(2) If a corporation commits an offence under subsection (1), any officer, director or agent of the corporation who directed, authorized, assented to, acquiesced in or participated in the commission of the offence is a party to and guilty of the offence and is liable on conviction to the punishment provided for the offence, whether or not the corporation has been prosecuted or convicted.
Application of sections 58 and 59	60. Sections 58 and 59 apply in any province on and after a day or days that the Governor in Council, by order, fixes.
Limits on effect of sections 57 and 58	61. Sections 57 and 58 do not operate so as to
	(a) qualify any person for any office or for any municipal, parliamentary or other franchise;
	(b) qualify any person to be the owner of a Canadian ship;
	(c) qualify any person to take, acquire, hold or dispose of any property that by or under any Act of Parliament may be taken, acquired, held or disposed of only by citizens;
	(d) entitle any person to any right or privilege as a citizen except the rights and privileges in relation to property that are under this Act expressly given to the person; or
	(e) affect any estate or interest in real or immovable property or personal or movable property to which a person has or may become entitled, either mediately or immediately, in possession or expectancy, in pursuance of any disposition made before July 4, 1883 or any devolution by law on the death of a person dying before that date.
Trials of non-citizens	62. A person who is not a citizen is triable at law in the same manner as if the person were a citizen.
	DIVISION 6
	TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS, CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS, COORDINATING AMENDMENTS, REPEAL AND COMING INTO FORCE
	Transitional Provisions
Pending applications	63. (1) Proceedings in relation to an application made under the Citizenship Act, chapter C-29 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, pending on the day on which section 77 of this Act comes into force must be dealt with under this Act.
Exception	(2) Despite subsection (1), if a citizenship judge under the Act referred to in that subsection is seized of the application, it is continued under that Act, with the modification that sections 29 to 37 of this Act and the provisions relating to the oath of citizenship apply to it.
Continuing jurisdiction	(3) A citizenship judge referred to in subsection (2) continues to hold office as a citizenship councillor in relation to an application referred to in that subsection and has, in relation to the application, all the powers that the judge had before the day on which section 77 comes into force, with the modifications referred to in that subsection.
Examination by Minister	(4) The Minister shall examine any application made under the Act referred to in subsection (1) before the day on which section 77 of this Act comes into force that had not been referred to a citizenship judge before that day.
Citizenship judge deemed Citizenship Councillor	64. A citizenship judge under the Act referred to in section 77, immediately before the day on which that section comes into force, is deemed, on that day, to become a Citizenship Councillor appointed under this Act for a term that ends on the day that the judge's term under that Act would have ended had section 77 not come into force.
Grant of citizenship in certain cases	65. (1) On application, the Minister shall grant citizenship to a person who has never acquired citizenship and who was
	(a) born outside Canada, in the period beginning on January 1, 1947 and ending on February 14, 1977, of a parent having citizenship; or
	(b) adopted, in the period beginning on January 1, 1947 and ending on February 14, 1977, by a citizen as a minor child and whose adoption satisfied the conditions mentioned in paragraphs 15(a) to (d).
Grant of citizenship in certain cases	(2) On application, the Minister may grant citizenship to a person born outside Canada of a parent who has been granted citizenship under subsection (1) or under paragraph 5(2)(b) of the Citizenship Act, chapter C-29 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, if that person establishes a substantial connection with Canada.
Grant of citizenship in certain cases	(3) On application, the Minister may grant citizenship to a person born outside Canada of a parent who has been granted citizenship under subsection (2) if that person establishes a substantial connection with Canada.
Form of application	(4) An application must be made in the form prescribed under subsection 54(1).
Repeal	(5) This section is repealed three years after the day on which it comes into force and, for greater certainty, a person who fails to make an application prior to that repeal is not entitled, after the repeal, to assert any right or privilege that could have been asserted under this section prior to the repeal.