Maple News reports that on June 13, 2026, the Registrar of Citizenship began issuing letters to individuals born outside Canada, ordering the immediate surrender of their Canadian citizenship certificates while investigations proceed under Citizenship Regulations 26(1).
Legal experts say the move could be illegal or unconstitutional. Ala Bujac, a Canadian immigration lawyer, told Maple News that this section of the Citizenship Regulations appears to threaten the citizenship rights of Canadians who were not born on Canadian soil.
Bujac noted that there is a potential challenge to the letters on the grounds that they violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Under the Charter, all persons are protected from discrimination, including on the basis of national or ethnic origin, and Canadian citizens are entitled to the rights guaranteed by the Charter.
Citizens by descent who are compelled to surrender their certificate retain their legal status as citizens but may be unable to fully exercise those rights in practice without the document proving citizenship. By comparison, Canadians born in Canada can prove citizenship with birth certificates that are not subject to surrender under Citizenship Regulations 26(1).
The central constitutional question would be whether any alleged equality rights violation could be justified under Charter 1, which allows reasonable limits on rights as demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
If a Charter challenge is pursued, a court ruling could take years to resolve, underscoring the case’s status as an evolving legal issue.