Canadian Citizenship Act, 1946
Canadian Citizenship Act, 1946
Main page
2199236

Canadian Citizenship Act, 1946

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Canadian Citizenship Act, 1946

The Canadian Citizenship Act (French: Loi sur la citoyenneté canadienne) was a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1946 which created the legal status of Canadian citizenship. The Act defined who were Canadian citizens, separate and independent from the status of the British subject and repealed earlier Canadian legislation relating to Canadian nationals and citizens as sub-classes of British subject status.

The Act came into force on 1 January 1947 and was in force for thirty years, until replaced on 15 February 1977 by a new statute, the Canadian Citizenship Act, 1976, now known as the Citizenship Act.

The status of "Canadian citizen" was originally created under the Immigration Act, 1910 to designate those British subjects who were born, naturalized, or domiciled in Canada. All other British subjects required permission to land. "Domicile" was defined as having been resident in Canada for three years, excluding any time spent in prisons or mental institutions.

A separate status of "Canadian national" was created under the Canadian Nationals Act, 1921, which was defined as being a Canadian citizen as defined above, their wives, and any children (fathered by such citizens) that had not yet landed in Canada.

However, these concepts were merely subsets of the status of "British subject", which was regulated by the Imperial British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914, which was adopted in Canada by the Naturalization Act, 1914.

Canadian citizenship, as a status separate from British nationality, was created by the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946, which came into effect on 1 January 1947. (Although passed in 1946, it is often referred to as the "1947 Citizenship Act" because it came into force in 1947.)

Canadian citizenship was generally conferred immediately on the following persons:

In the latter two cases, a "Canadian" was a British subject who would have been considered a Canadian citizen if the 1947 Act had come into force immediately before the marriage or birth (as the case may be). Where the child born outside Canada was not a minor (i.e., was not under 21 years in age) at the time the Act came into force, proof of landed immigrant status was required to confirm Canadian citizenship.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.