Canada’s immigration ministry has sent letters to an unknown number of people who recently obtained proof of Canadian citizenship through ancestral ties, demanding they surrender their certificates pending a review of their applications, according to copies of the letters shared with the BBC.
The letters, signed by Registrar of Canadian Citizenship Peggy Sun, state that recipients “may not be entitled” to their certificates of citizenship and ask for the documents to be returned. The ministry confirmed in a statement to the BBC that “a limited number of files” are under review, and that those who received the letters will be given a chance to provide additional evidence. “If the review confirms that the individual is entitled to the certificate, it will be returned,” the spokesperson said.
The affected individuals obtained citizenship under the so-called “Lost Canadians” law that took effect in December 2025. That law restored citizenship by descent to people born abroad to a Canadian parent or grandparent who was also born outside Canada, covering a gap that had left many without a path to citizenship for decades. Canada received more than 12,000 applications in the first month and a half after the law came into effect. Most approved applications came from people born in the United States, according to government data reported by CBC.
Shawn Davis Mooney, who said he submitted 114 pages of documentation — including records showing a great-great-grandparent born in New Brunswick — was approved for urgent processing and received his citizenship certificate in February. He had relocated permanently with his husband from California to Victoria, British Columbia. The letter he received said his certificate may be revoked because he failed to provide the right documentation.
“It has devastated me beyond imagination,” Mooney said. He said the letter left him and his lawyers confused and that its effect was to “make us feel like frauds, or we’ve done something wrong.”
Rana Charron, who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, said she applied using census records to prove her great-great-grandmother was French-Canadian from Quebec, because no birth certificate or baptismal records from that period were available. Her application was approved and she received her physical citizenship certificate earlier in June. She said she is now preparing to return it.
“I was very excited to be formally Canadian,” Charron said. “Growing up, my family was very aware of our Canadian heritage … it mattered a lot to me.” She described being asked to surrender the certificate as “one of the largest disappointments I’ve had in my life.”
Lisa Middlemiss, a Montreal immigration lawyer, said the letters were “shocking.” She noted that the government can revoke citizenship “only in very rare circumstances,” and that those receiving surrender letters are people who had already gone through the appropriate process set out by Canada’s immigration laws. “It sends such a bad message for Canada,” she said.
The immigration ministry said each application was reviewed by trained officers before certificates were granted. It said the current review is being conducted “to ensure they are assessed fairly, consistently and in accordance with the law.”
Charron said she intends to see her case through but has lost trust in the process. “If they can just yank that back, what’s going to stop them from doing it two years from now, or 10 years from now, when people have really settled down and put roots?” she said.