I learned a few weeks ago that I'm a Canadian citizen. This was

pretty surprising to me, since I was born in the US to American

parents, both of which had American parents. You don't normally

suddenly become a citizen of another country! But with

Bill

C-3, anyone with any Canadian ancestry is now Canadian. [1]

In my case my mother's,

mother's,

father's

mother's

mother

was Canadian. While that is really quite far back, there isn't

a generational limit anymore.

Possibly you're also a Canadian citizen? Seems worth checking! With

how much migration there has been between the US and Canada, and

citizenship requiring only a single ancestor, this might mean ~5-10% of

Americans are now additionally Canadian, which is kind of nuts.

I very much think of myself as an American, and am not

interested in moving to Canada or even getting a passport. I am

planning to apply

for a Citizenship Certificate, though, since it seems better to

have this fully documented. This means collecting the records to link

each generation, including marital name changes, back to my

thrice-great grandmother. It's been a fun project! I'm currently

waiting to receive the Consular [...]

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February 19th, 2026

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ppapC57WuR9LFGg7p/you-may-already-be-canadian