Section 7 — Non-forfeiture of citizenship — Citizenship Act — Canada — immi.wiki
Text of provision
7 Except as otherwise specifically provided, no person who is a citizen shall be deemed to have ceased to be a citizen solely by reason of that person's failure to comply with any provision of this Act or of any prior Act.
Plain English
Section 7 is the non-forfeiture principle for Canadian citizenship. It provides that a person who is a Canadian citizen does not lose their citizenship merely by failing to comply with any provision of the Citizenship Act — whether the current Act or a prior Act.
This section has particular historical significance. Under the former Canadian Citizenship Act (the 1947 Act), certain persons who failed to make a declaration to retain citizenship (by age 28) or who failed to comply with other requirements were deemed to have ceased to be citizens. Section 7 of the current Act (in force from February 15, 1977) addressed this problem by preventing future losses of citizenship through technical non-compliance.
The phrase "except as otherwise specifically provided" means that citizenship can still be lost through the specific statutory mechanisms of the current Act:
- Renunciation under s 9 — voluntary surrender of citizenship
- Revocation under s 10 — involuntary loss due to fraud or misrepresentation
There is no other mechanism by which Canadian citizenship is forfeited. Non-residence, non-use of citizenship, failure to hold a passport, or other administrative non-compliance does not cause loss of citizenship.
Practical effect
Section 7 gives Canadian citizens legal certainty that their citizenship is secure and cannot be taken away through administrative oversight or technical non-compliance. In practice:
- A Canadian citizen who never applies for a passport, never votes, and never returns to Canada does not lose their citizenship under s 7. Citizenship persists.
- The historical "Lost Canadians" cases arose under the former Act's retention requirements. Many persons were told they had "lost" their citizenship by failing to make a declaration. Section 7 of the current Act prevents this from happening going forward, and subsequent amendments addressed historical losses through the Lost Canadians provisions.
- Section 7 interacts with s 3(3) (first-generation born abroad limitation) — the limitation restricts who can acquire citizenship, but once citizenship is acquired, s 7 ensures it is retained absent voluntary renunciation or fraud-based revocation.