Judicial review of provisions of current and previous citizenship acts
There have been a number of court decisions dealing with the subject of Canadian citizenship. A few of the major decisions are:
Glynos v. Canada (1992). The federal court ruled that the child of a Canadian mother had the right to be granted Canadian citizenship, despite the fact that the responsible parent of the child (i.e. the father) had naturalized as a U.S. citizen before 15 February 1977 and had thus lost his Canadian citizenship.
Benner v. Canada (1997). The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that children born abroad before 15 February 1977 of Canadian mothers were to be treated the same as those of Canadian fathers (i.e. granted citizenship upon application without the requirements of a security check or taking a citizenship oath).
Canada (Attorney General) v. McKenna (C.A.) (1999). As a result of the existing Citizenship Act, adopted children are treated differently from biological children born abroad to Canadian citizens. The Federal Court of Appeal has indicated that distinctions in the law based on “adoptive parentage” violate the equality rights provisions in section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Under the existing law, moreover, children adopted by Canadian parents who are living abroad and who wish to continue doing so cannot become permanent residents and, therefore, cannot become Canadian citizens.
Taylor v. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (2006). The federal court ruled that an individual born abroad and out of wedlock to a Canadian serviceman father and a non-Canadian mother acquired citizenship upon arrival in Canada after World War II and did not subsequently lose Canadian citizenship while living abroad. The ruling is far-reaching in terms of striking down a number of the loss provisions of the 1947 Citizenship Act based on the retrospective application of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. On 29 September 2006 the Canadian Government announced that this decision would be appealed.