Lost Canadians

As new laws go into effect requiring Canadians to have passports for travel to the U.S., hundreds of people are learning that they are not citizens of Canada.

CBC:

Many applying for a Canadian passport have been informed their chance to remain a citizen expired years ago because of an obscure provision in the Citizenship Act, a little-known law that applied between 1947 and 1977.

The law states that if you lived outside Canada on your 24th birthday and failed to sign the right form, you automatically lost your citizenship.

It sure doesn't make a lick of sense to me other than the fact that legislative bodies habitually pass stupid laws.

Estimated to number as high as 20,000, the Lost Canadians are able to apply for a grant of citizenship which takes eight months. According to Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley, "We're trying to right the wrongs of the past and do the reasonable thing, the right thing, for what are essentially Canadians in all but name." Some interest has been expressed to have Parliament pass a new law to specifically address the Lost Canadians.