Naturalization Records held by Citizenship Canada

About the Records
Citizenship and Immigration Canada holds records of naturalization and citizenship from 1854. The originals of records dated between 1854 and 1917 have been destroyed. However, a nominal card index has survived, which provides information compiled at the time of naturalization, such as present and former place of residence, former nationality, occupation, date of certification, name and location of the responsible court. The index rarely contains any other genealogical information.
Records created after 1917 are more detailed, indicating the surname, given name, date and place of birth, entry into Canada, and in some cases, the names of spouses and children. The file will typically include the original petition for naturalization, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police report on the person, the oath of allegiance, and any other documents.
Many people were naturalized under acts prior to 1914, and therefore, the original naturalization records no longer exist. However, if they interacted with the department in later years, those papers may still be available. Examples are Series E certificates, which were often issued to persons whose fathers or husbands had been naturalized earlier. The person was technically already naturalized through the naturalization of the father or husband. If the person later wanted a naturalization certificate, he/she could apply for one. Those application papers normally include much of the information that was on the father's/husband's pre-1914 papers, now destroyed.
About the Series
Under the 1914 Act, naturalization certificates were issued based on the category of naturalization. Each certificate bore a letter (A, B, D, C or E) referred to as "the Series," and a number. Certificates issued in French also include the letter F after the number.







Series A: Certificates granted to Aliens.
Series B: Certificates granted to Aliens where names of minor children are included.
Series C: Certificates granted to Minors.
Series D: Certificates granted to persons whose nationality as British Subjects is in doubt.
Series E: Certificates granted to persons naturalized under prior Acts.
Series F and G: Repatriations.
How to Obtain Copies
Records listed in these databases are held by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Requests for copies of documents must be sent by mail to the under-noted office:
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Public Rights Administration
360 Laurier Ave West
10th Floor
Ottawa, ON
K1A 1L1
Please note that the following conditions apply:
• Each application for copies must be submitted on an Access to Information Request Form [www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/tbsf-fsct/350-57_e.asp] by a Canadian citizen or an individual living in Canada.
• Fee: $5.00, payable to the Receiver General for Canada.
• The request must be accompanied by a signed consent from the person concerned or proof that he/she has been deceased 20 years. Proof of death can be a copy of a death record, a newspaper obituary or a photograph of the gravestone showing name and death date.
• The request should include the following information: surname, given name, date and place of birth, and, if known, the number of the naturalization certificate including the alphabetic Series identifier and the "F" suffix if the certificate was issued in French. Specify that you want copies of the original documents.



Waiver Criteria

Under Subsection 5(3) of the Act, the Minister of Immigration may waive on compassionate grounds the following requirements for citizenship:

1. In the case of any person, the requirements of Paragraph (5)(1)(d) or Paragraph 5(1)(e) of the Act;

2. In the case of a minor, the requirement respecting age set out in Paragraph 5(1)(b), the requirement respecting length of residence in Canada set out in Paragraph 5(1)(c) or the requirement to take the oath of citizenship; and

Further, pursuant to Subsection 5(4) of Act, the Governor in Council may, in his discretion, direct the Minister of Immigration to grant citizenship to any person, in order to alleviate cases of special and unusual hardship or to reward services of an exceptional value to Canada.



Calculation of Residence
The applicant must have been lawfully admitted as a permanent resident in Canada (i.e. formerly known as a landed immigrant). Most citizenship applicants acquire permanent resident status at the time of their original admission. However, in rare cases, citizenship applicants may acquire permanent resident status after their intial entry (i.e. spouses who obtain permanent residence through inland processing within Canada).
Paragraph 5(1)(c) of the Act states that each day or residence after lawful admission as a permanent resident is counted as one day towards the three-year residence requirement and each day before lawful admission as a permanent resident counts as one half-day. However, the calculation of residence cannot go beyond the four-year period immediately preceding the date of the citizenship application. Therefore, the most credit that an applicant could get for residence prior to lawful admission as a permanent resident would be six months (one year prior to lawful admission, which is counted as six months of residence).

As stated above, the Act also credits the spouse or common-law partners of a Canadian citizen who is accompanying the citizen abroad for certain purposes. According to Subsection 5(1.1) of the Act, any day during which an applicant for citizenship resided with the applicant's spouse or common-law partner who at the time was a Canadian citizen and was employed outside of Canada in or with the Canadian armed forces or the public service of Canada or of a province, otherwise than as a locally engaged person, shall be treated as equivalent to one day of residence in Canada.

According to Section 21 of the Act, no period may be counted as a period of residence during which a person has been, pursuant to any enactment in force in Canada,

1. Under a probation order;
2. A paroled inmate; or
3. Confined in or been an inmate of any penitentiary, jail, reformatory or prison.

Where a person has been found not guilty by reason of insanity under Section 16 of the Criminal Code, and the individual has been detained by a Lieutenant Governor's order, the person is considered to have been confined in or been an inmate of any penitentiary, jail, reformatory or prison. Such a period may not be counted as residence under the Act.

A person who is the subject of a conditional discharge in combination with a period of probation may count that period for residence purposes if all the conditions of the order have been satisfied. Similarly, a conviction under Section 259 of the Criminal Code prohibiting a person from driving is not considered a probation order.

Pre-trial custody is the period of time a person is kept in jail until and during trial. This period of time, even if the person is acquitted, is to be counted as probation time when calculating residence.

A community sentence is time served in the community in lieu of jail and is considered jail time. Three months of community sentence time is counted as three months of jail time.

Applicants must meet the residence requirements the day before filing the application for citizenship. Applications that are signed or submitted before they accumulated the minimum amount of time as a permanent resident will be returned to the applicant.


Citizenship Judges
Citizenship judges are appointed by the Governor in Council and are responsible under the Citizenship Act for considering applications for grants of citizenship (and other applications) to see if they meet the requirements of the Act and regulations and for advising the Minister if they do. The Minister then grants citizenship, a power delegated to officials. Applications that are not approved may be appealed to the Federal Court. Citizenship judges also administer the oath of allegiance and have certain ceremonial duties.
Soon after the general election of 1993, the Minister announced that these patronage positions would be eliminated and that no more citizenship judges would be appointed. At the time, there were some 50 judges across the country, who continued to perform their statutory duties until the law could be changed.
As noted above, however, no bill effecting a general revision of the Citizenship Act, has been introduced; in June 1996 the necessary amendments were included in an omnibus bill that would have amended a large number of statutes. That bill, however, died on the Order Paper at the end of April 1997 when the 35th Parliament was dissolved and the election called.
Meanwhile, with no new appointments being made, the number of citizenship judges dwindled as their terms expired. By the spring of 1997, the number had reached 19, with only one judge to serve all of British Columbia. As the backlog in applications grew, the Minister has been required to appoint new judges so that the application process could continue.