Good morning.
Thank you for being with us, Mr. Noorani, from B.C.
I'm trying to separate those affected by this law into two categories: those, like Ms. Scott and Mr. Gélinas, who have been born abroad, or born in Canada to parents born abroad, and have lost their citizenship; and those second-generation people who we're trying to cover now.
I was once an assistant to an MP and I had to deal with lost Canadians—women who unknowingly lost their citizenship because of marriage to non-Canadians before 1947. At the same time, they never gained any other citizenship. I remember a lady who married a Polish citizen, never knowing she had lost her Canadian citizenship, and never gaining Polish citizenship. She was stateless for 52 years of her marriage. She found out only when she went to request her fifth passport—only then was she told she wasn't a Canadian.