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The Canadian Senate passed Bill C-14 – the Citizenship Bill last week and it is expected to receive Royal Assent in the next few days.

This bill means that children adopted abroad by Canadian famillies, where the adoption is finalized in the country of origin, will become citizens of Canada. With the current process, we have to apply for permanent resident visa for our kids (the visas are issued by the government in Nairobi, Kenya, since there isn’t a Canadian embassy in Ethiopia,) and then once they are here in Canada, apply for citizenship for them.  (People say that takes about a year.)  We don’t know if this will be in place by the time Jrock and I are applying to immigration for our “unnamed children”… probably not.  But it’s nice to see this cumbersome process being lightened up. The following are excerpts of the Senate’s discussions. 

Bill C-14 is about families. It is about the steps that a family must take to make their internationally adopted child a Canadian citizen.

Every year, 2,000 Canadian families open their hearts to children born abroad, offering them love and a home. The child becomes part of the family, but the parents must fulfill another requirement before their child can become part of the larger Canadian  family. Unlike children born to Canadian citizens living abroad, a child born in another country and adopted by Canadian citizens is not considered to be a Canadian citizen. The adoptive parents must first request permanent resident status for their child.

Bill C-14 will eliminate that requirement. It is designed to address a provision of the Citizenship Act that creates excessive distinction between children born to Canadians living in another country and children born in another country who are adopted by Canadians. I am sure that honourable senators will agree that Canadians who adopt a foreign child make no such distinction. They will love that child and raise him or her to the best of their abilities as much as if they had given birth to the child themselves.

This bill is about adding a new degree of efficiency to Canada’s citizenship program. It allows the Parliament of Canada to show its support for the caring Canadian families who choose to adopt children in another country. This bill will show its support for those families who give so much in order to offer a child an opportunity for a better life here in Canada.