An overhaul of Canadian legislation has raised suggestions that some may be automatically eligible for citizenship due to their ancestry. But experts say it’s not so simple.
“Over the years, Canada has opened up, or made modifications to, the Citizenship Act to make it possible for people who are not Canadian to be Canadian,” says Lisa Middlemiss, a member of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association, in a Zoom interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday.
“That being said, without any evidence that someone is Canadian, it’s of very little worth,” Middlemiss says.
Bill C-3, which amended the Citizenship Act, opens the door to Canadian citizenship for those with ancestors from Canada, according to Middlemiss, an immigration lawyer based in Montreal.
Passed on Dec. 15, 2025, Bill C-3 removed the first-generation limit for citizenship by descent for those born or adopted before the date the legislation went into effect.
The citizenship by descent law doesn’t explicitly state that you can go back generations to prove citizenship, Middlemiss explains. However, she says it is allowed based on section 3(1) of Canada’s Citizenship Act, retroactively restoring citizenship to those who lost it or who were not recognized as Canadian.
Is Beyonce automatically a Canadian?
One website that reports on immigration suggested millions of Americans with Canadian ancestry, even celebrities like Beyoncé, Timothée Chalamet and Madonna, may automatically be Canadian due to their roots.
Beyoncé is the sixth great-granddaughter of Joseph Broussard, considered a legendary leader of the Acadians who were French colonists in the 1700s from Port-Royal, or present-day Nova Scotia, according to Mike Batie, a genealogist and family historian, on his website Hollywood Ancestry.
Timothée Chalamet revealed in a Nardwuar interview that his grandmother was from Brantford, Ont. Madonna has French Canadian roots from her mother’s side, according to Kim Kujawski, a bilingual genealogist, on the French Canadian Genealogist website.
Middlemiss says such celebrities have a possible claim to Canadian citizenship – if they have sufficient proof.
“While these recent changes extended access to Canadian citizenship by descent, having distant Canadian ancestry alone does not make someone automatically eligible,” Matthew Krupovich, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said in an email to CTVNews.ca on Wednesday.
How is your citizenship recognized?
Those who have Canadian ancestry and want to obtain the rights of citizenship must apply for proof of citizenship and meet the eligibility requirements to obtain a citizenship certificate, according to Krupovich.
He said the requirements include:
- Individuals born outside Canada before Dec. 15, 2025, must show they have a Canadian parent or a parental ancestor, such as a grandparent or great-grandparent, who became a Canadian citizen on or after Jan. 1, 1947, or after April 1, 1949, in Newfoundland and Labrador
- Some applicants may need to trace their family line back multiple generations to prove their eligibility for Canadian citizenship by descent
- Applicants must provide documents proving both that their ancestor was Canadian and that they are directly related through each generation
The process can be difficult, requiring individuals to retrace their Canadian ancestry and complete a complex application with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Middlemiss says.
“The more resources you have … to invest in this process with a genealogist, with a lawyer, with those sorts of tools, the more likely they may be able to substantiate the claim,” Middlemiss says.
