Change in Canada's citizenship law hitting U.S. archives
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Change → hit → archives
Archivists in several archives reporting sharp increase in request for records, backlogs and processing times
Sitting in their archive in Lafayette, Louisiana, Barbara Dejean and Stephanie Simon first heard about a change in Canada's citizenship rules in December, when they read an online news story.
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they → report → story
Then the calls started coming in.
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calls → come → ?
Calls from Americans who wanted to document their Canadian ancestry to apply under the new rules for Canadian citizenship certificates.
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who → want → certificates
"It started a bit earlier in January, but now we have over 450 requests waiting to be processed," said Simon, associate archivist at the Diocese of Lafayette, whose records include those of many Acadian families.
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records → start → families
"The same day that we mail out 40, 40 more come in the mail, so it's not like we can make some headway on it.
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we → mail → it
It's just kind of keeping up with them.
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It → keep → them
Dejean estimates their two-person archive has received 1,350 requests for records since Bill C-3 went into effect on Dec. 15, 2025.
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archive → estimate → Dec.
It used to be two to three days.
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It → use → ?
"They're from all over, all over the United States where we've been getting requests for our records," said Dejean.
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Dejean → get → records
The families have branched off and moved on."
Lafayette's archive is not alone.
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archive → branch → ?
Citizenship demand spreads to U.S. archives
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demand → spread → archives
While the increase in requests for genealogical records has not yet made it onto the radar of national associations of archivists in the U.S., many American archives — both large and small — are experiencing unintended consequences from Bill C-3.
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archives → make → C-3
Bill C-3 allows Canadian citizenship for those who can prove they're descended from a Canadian ancestor, even if that ancestor left the country several generations back.
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ancestor → allow → country
It was adopted after the courts ruled that limiting citizenship to the first generation born outside Canada was too restrictive.
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limiting → adopt → Canada
It has become very popular — particularly with Americans.
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It → become → Americans
According to the most recent figures available from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 6,635 people received Canadian citizenship certificates as a result of Bill C-3 between Dec. 15, 2025 and June 30, 2026.
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people → accord → Dec.
More than half of the newly recognized Canadian citizens under Bill C-3 – 3,510 people — were born in the United States.
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half → recognize → States
Another 19,160 people have received certificates as a result of having a Canadian parent — 9,150 of them from the U.S.
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people → receive → U.S.
Prior to the bill's adoption, those who were born outside Canada had to have a Canadian parent to qualify for citizenship.
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who → bear → citizenship
The certificates allow the 25,795 newly recognized Canadian citizens to apply for Canadian passports and live and work in Canada.
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citizens → allow → Canada
However, the backlog of applications for Canadian citizenship certificates has soared.
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backlog → soar → certificates
It currently stands at 136,000 applications, with an estimated processing time of 33 months.
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It → stand → months
Last October, Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab told the House of Commons immigration committee that she didn't expect a flood of applications for citizenship certificates once Bill C-3 went into effect and she only expected "volumes in the tens of thousands over time."
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she → tell → time
Estimates of just how many people could qualify for Canadian citizenship as a result of Bill C-3 vary widely.
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people → qualify → C-3
Some point to a period spanning more than 100 years, in the 1800s and 1900s and even earlier, when hundreds of thousands of Canadians — particularly from Quebec — crossed the border for jobs in the U.S.
Small archives struggle with the workload
One area that saw an early influx of French-Canadian immigrants was southern Illinois, where Mike Heithaus serves as a part-time archivist with the Diocese of Belleville.
He said the number of requests began to climb around May or June before subsiding a bit in September.
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number → span → September
"From roughly June 1st to the beginning of September, I had 32 requests, which I know doesn't sound like a ton," Heithaus said.
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Heithaus → have → ton
"But when it's just me and I'm here 10 to 15 hours a week, that is basically consuming all my time to do those."
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that → consume → those
Heithaus said the diocese debated whether to continue responding to the requests.
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diocese → say → requests
Instead of refusing requests, it decided to increase Heithaus's hours from 10 to 15 a week and more than triple the fee for requests from $10 to $33 US.
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it → refuse → US
Pressure reaches larger archives, too
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Pressure → reach → archives
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) collection includes different kinds of documents that can help establish ancestry, such as naturalization records, census records, passenger records and Canadian border-crossing records.
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that → include → records
While NARA's public affairs department declined an interview, sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns for their jobs said archivists are seeing an increase this year in requests from people seeking Canadian dual citizenship under Bill C-3.
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archivists → decline → C-3
They are also seeing an increase in requests from Americans who could qualify for dual citizenship in other countries, such as Italy or Germany.
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who → see → Italy
Archivists have a variety of tasks, and the increase in requests by prospective dual citizens has created a backlog and led to longer processing times.
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increase → have → times
"It's become untenable," one source said.
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source → become → ?
"It's become an unstable situation.
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It → become → ?
People are seeking these records out and it's become most of our job."
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it → seek → job
Canadian citizenship certificate applications now facing nearly 3-year delays
Demand for Canadian citizenship certificates soaring, fuelled by Americans
Anderson Smith, an archivist with the Acadian Archives at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, said the number of requests related to documents for Canadian citizenship jumped from one each in 2024 and 2025 to 72 in 2026.
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number → face → 2026
However, a change to IRCC regulations in June that spelled out the need to provide original or certified copies of documents led to a decline in requests.
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that → spell → requests
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
