See what I did there?
SprAyTAN was ranting ignorantly at the Supreme Court over birthright citizenship while I was pulling together my second post earlier. When Donald Trump signed his executive order last year puporting to rewrite the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship clause, he condemned courts’ traditional interpretation, saying, “We are the only country in the world that does this with the birthright, as you know, and it’s just absolutely ridiculous.”
That “as you know” is one of Trump’s flourishes used to reinforce lies he tells. It’s another version of “a lot of people are saying.”
Um, no. In fact, most Western Hemisphere countries have birthright citizenship. Including Canada, and then some.
In fact, on December 15 the Canadian government by law extended citizenship by inheritance to anyone who can document being a direct descendent of a Canadian citizen:
Amid rising tensions in the United States, many Americans are looking to Canada — and their roots — for a possible way out.
Lynn Rutman, a Cape Cod, Mass., resident with family ties to Quebec and Nova Scotia dating back centuries, said she’s worried about the political situation in her country, citing recent events surrounding controversial immigration enforcement policies and long-standing ideological divides.
“It’s not just me, many of us are concerned,” she said.
She’s now one of thousands who have begun the process of applying for proof of Canadian citizenship following recent changes to Canada’s citizenship rules.
Prior to Bill C-3, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act (2025), citizenship by descent for those born abroad was limited to the first generation.But now, Canadian citizenship is being retroactively granted to people born before the new law came into effect on Dec. 15, 2025, who would have been citizens if not for the first-generation limit. Different criteria, however, apply to those born on or after that date.
You don’t have to apply for Canadian citzenship. If you have the genealogy, Canada retroactively recognizes you as a Canadian. You’re just not functionally one until you formally document it for the government. Satisfy that and they send you a certificate of citizenship with which you can obtain a passport.
Guess what I’m doing in my spare time? No plans for going anywhere. Too much Irish on both sides. (Is this a private fight?) But if Canada’s offering me a back door….