Madam Chair, section 3 of the legislation sets out different circumstances or categories of ways that people are Canadian citizens. A separate section of the act, section 5, sets out ways that people can become Canadian citizens. As I've mentioned, you're under either one or the other. Under the legislation as it currently is, it's not possible to be both. However, in practical terms, the member is correct: The timeline is very important.
I can share with this committee that when I was working on preparing for the implementation of the 2009 legislative remedies, I did have persons in the provinces—I forget which ones—contact me on live cases soon after the implementation. They understood from the person they were working with that they were a Canadian citizen. They said that they had benefited from this legislative remedy that made them a citizen back to the date of their birth, and they wondered if that was actually what had happened.
Of course, we don't disclose any individual's information, but we had to confirm to the provinces in question that indeed the legislative remedies were retroactive and that the remedies were giving citizenship back to the date of birth. Then the other jurisdiction could take that information and could assess how it applied for the purposes of benefits to be extended to those applicants.