Minister says 'something' happened to trigger order to surrender citizenship docs

Immigration Minister Lena Diab says she told her department to investigate when she became aware that "something" had happened to trigger a wave of citizenship document recalls.

The minister didn't say today exactly what problem led to an unknown number of people getting emails last week ordering them to surrender their proof of citizenship.

The department has said the emails went to "a few dozen" people who received citizenship by descent under a new law that lets people born before Dec. 15, 2025 claim Canadian citizenship as long as they have a provable direct ancestor.

Some of the people affected who had already applied for and received a passport said they have been told they need to surrender those passports as they are no longer valid.

All 4,100 successful citizenship claims made under the new law are now being reviewed by the department as part of the investigation.

Some people who were told to surrender their citizenship certificates last week received followup emails over the weekend saying their citizenship had now been confirmed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2026.

By David Baxter | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.