Forced surrender of Canadian citizenship certificates may be unconstitutional, experts say

Holders of proof of Canadian citizenship certificates may have had their constitutional rights violated by the federal government.

On June 13, 2026, the Registrar of citizenship issued letters en masse to persons who had been born outside Canada, requiring the immediate surrender of their Canadian citizenship certificates while their cases were being investigated, as authorized under Citizenship Regulations 26(1).

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The government’s move could be illegal.

“This section of the Citizenship Regulations appears to threaten all the citizenship rights of every Canadian citizen who was not born on Canadian soil,” said Ala Bujac, a lawyer at Cohen Immigration Law, in an interview with CIC News on June 17, 2026.

Bujac explained that “there is a possible challenge” to the issuance of these letters, as being in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Under the Charter, all persons are guaranteed freedom from discrimination, including specifically discrimination on the basis of “national or ethnic origin.”*

Furthermore, all Canadian citizens under the Citizenship Act are afforded the full suite of rights by the Charter.

A citizen by descent who has been forced to turn over their certificate retains their rights as a Canadian citizen under law, but cannot equally exercise their rights in practice, given that they lack the document which proves their Canadian citizenship.

Citizens born in Canada, in contrast, can prove their Canadian citizenship using birth certificates, which are not subject to forced surrender under Citizenship Regulations 26(1).**

According to Bujac, a court may conclude that citizens by descent are disadvantaged on the basis of their national origin as a consequence of Citizenship Regulations 26(1).

The question of the constitutionality of 26(1) would then hinge, most likely, on whether the court would consider the contravention of the equality rights set out in Charter 15(1) to be allowable under Charter 1, which “guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”***

Should rights holders pursue a Charter challenge, it would likely be years before Canadians obtain an answer.

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*Charter 15(1).

**“The Registrar shall, in writing, require a person to surrender to the Registrar any certificate of naturalization, certificate of citizenship, miniature certificate of citizenship or other certificate of citizenship that contains the person’s photograph, or certificate of renunciation, issued or granted to the person under the Act or prior legislation or any regulations made under them if there is reason to believe that the person may not be entitled to the certificate or has violated any of the provisions of the Act, and the person shall forthwith comply with the requirement.” Citizenship Regulations 26(1).

***Charter 1.