Canada will now extend automatic citizenship to children born or adopted abroad to a Canadian parent also born outside the country.

There are conditions to the “Lost Canadian” rules that came into effect on Monday – the Canadian parent must show a “substantial connection” to the country by having spent at least three years there prior to their child’s birth or adoption.

“Lost Canadians” refers to people who lost or never acquired citizenship because of what Ottawa deemed “outdated provisions” of its citizenship laws.

The changes on Monday stem from a 2023 Ontario court decision that ruled parts of the law limiting citizenship by descent were unconstitutional.

The court ruling came after the federal government under former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper passed a law in 2009 that removed the automatic right to citizenship for descendants of Canadians born abroad.

The current Liberal government did not appeal the 2023 Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruling, saying on Monday that at the time it “agreed the law had unacceptable outcomes for children of Canadians who were born outside the country”.

Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer – which provides independent analysis to parliamentarians – estimated in a 2024 assessment that this could affect about around 115,000 people over the next five years.

In November, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, the shadow minister for immigration, raised concerns the bill would allow “unfettered citizenship by descent and create untold citizens of convenience”.

The Conservatives, with the backing of the Bloc Québécois had sought amendments to the bill prior to it passing that would have demanded more stringent rules for citizenship, including language requirements and security checks for adults.

Those amendments failed to pass in the House.

One new Canadian who was able to gain citizenship under the changes is Alfie Jones, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper.

Mr Jones is a British-born football player recently recruited to play for Canada in the 2026 Fifa World Cup whose grandmother is from the province of Alberta.