alt.hn

3/9/2026 at 12:04:08 AM

Millions Of Americans can now claim Canadian citizenship but must prove descent

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bill-c-3-canadian-citizenship-by-descent-american-interest-9.7112724

by cf100clunk

3/9/2026 at 10:21:45 AM

my family came from Nova Scotia a century ago and I could go back now, it’s gorgeous up there

but running isn’t gonna fix the problem. for better or worse, I’m staying in hopes of helping the kids fix things, and share their hardships until we do. It’s the only way.

by nacozarina

3/9/2026 at 6:50:36 PM

Canada is physically safer for certain classes of humans as of this comment. That may change depending on if Canada is faced with defending against a physical/military attack by the US, but as of today, the risk assessment and threat model is somewhat clear.

As an American, you can even vote from another country if necessary. No need to remain on US soil to live a good life or to contribute to change from a far. Staying isn't going to fix the problem either if the electorate continues to vote poorly, which you as an individual have no control over. Optimize for your quality of life for the subject time horizon.

by toomuchtodo

3/9/2026 at 11:48:24 AM

> but running isn’t gonna fix the problem. for better or worse, I’m staying in hopes of helping the kids fix things, and share their hardships until we do. It’s the only way.

interesting point. would you say the same to people fleeing from other countries to the US ?

by znpy

3/9/2026 at 6:06:38 PM

where are they running from? Canada is right above the US, and is heavily tied to the US in terms of language, culture, and economy. You can't ignore the US in Canada, you're just not directly fucked by the USG.

But if you're fleeing Armenia-Azeri conflicts... you can avoid most of that in Canada.

by red-iron-pine

3/9/2026 at 12:40:20 AM

https://www.familysearch.org/ is a free resource for those needing to collect evidence to prove descent for countries that offer a path to citizenship via descent.

by toomuchtodo

3/9/2026 at 12:47:07 AM

That Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints resource has been a huge benefit to genealogists.

by cf100clunk

3/9/2026 at 12:58:52 AM

Agreed, and their support staff is both friendly and accessible when seeking guidance or assistance contributing to the historical graph.

by toomuchtodo

3/9/2026 at 9:03:38 AM

thing is they ARE americans, and Canada is not the US, but at first, for an american they can almost get cosy, and often do before they encounter Canadas fierce, but chearfull distain for "merica", complete disregard for the "details", and yes we react like your country is a fucked up cross between nazis and haricrishnas, cause it is! and no we wont debate the "details", we will offer beer, and suggest a proctologist for the stick. I hope you enjoyed this speach, it was free.

by metalman

3/9/2026 at 2:45:50 AM

[flagged]

by like_any_other

3/9/2026 at 11:36:44 AM

There’s the refugee path, and you can use various international treaties to get temporary residence in Canada. I think all countries are touchy about citizenship though.

by jleyank

3/9/2026 at 2:29:20 AM

[flagged]

by CommenterPerson

3/9/2026 at 12:25:05 AM

Assuming those Americans want to live in a highly liberal country.

by TutleCpt

3/9/2026 at 12:55:24 AM

I wouldn't call Canada "highly liberal" unless you're starting from a rather conservative bias. Having lived in both countries, there's a lot to be said for not having to scramble for health insurance when you don't have good, full-time employment. It's would say it's quieter, less-exciting, and that's probably a good thing particularly when trying to raise a family.

If you have such a bias, maybe Alberta would be tolerable but I doubt it. If you're from the coastal portions of the US, Canada would be quite reasonable.

by jleyank

3/9/2026 at 1:00:13 AM

> Assuming those Americans want to live in a highly liberal country.

Also citizenship and residence are not the same. As for that political view, the article deals directly with motivations for why Canadian citizenship via this new process has become popular.

by cf100clunk

3/9/2026 at 1:01:23 AM

Canada isnt liberal; it is corrupt. These are not the same things.

by petermcneeley

3/9/2026 at 2:21:40 AM

Compared to what? Everything is corrupt in some sense, but Canada generally ranks pretty well compared to most other countries [0].

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Canada

by gucci-on-fleek

3/9/2026 at 3:18:15 AM

The Canadian gov debanked people during a legitimate protest using the emergency act (among other violations). This was later ruled to be an illegitimate use of this act. Nobody has faced any consequences for this and none are expected.

I dont see that listed in this wiki entry. Perhaps this wiki is incomplete.

by petermcneeley

3/9/2026 at 4:19:14 AM

> The Canadian gov debanked people during a legitimate protest using the emergency act (among other violations).

Ok, but I don't see how that's corruption. Switching to some American examples, I've never heard anyone refer to the jailing of MLK [0], the shooting of Vietnam War protesters [1], or Stonewall [2] as "corruption", and these are all much more extreme than the 2022 Canadian protests.

> This was later ruled to be an illegitimate use of this act.

Do you have a source for this? Because §28.7 of the report from the independent commission [3] states that its use was legitimate:

  For these reasons, I have concluded that Cabinet was reasonably
  concerned that the situation it was facing was worsening and at risk of
  becoming dangerous and unmanageable. There was credible and compelling
  evidence supporting both a subjective and objective reasonable belief in
  the existence of a public order emergency. The decision to invoke the
  Act was appropriate.
> Nobody has faced any consequences for this and none are expected.

It was a decision made by the Cabinet while acting in its official capacity, so parliamentary privilege [4] means that there could never be any criminal consequences, no matter how severe what they did was. Political actions generally only have political consequences, and considering that Justin Trudeau and much of the Cabinet resigned a couple years later [5], I'd argue that there were in fact some consequences.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_campaign#Martin_Lut...

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots

[3]: https://publicorderemergencycommission.ca/files/documents/Fi...

[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_privilege#Canada

[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024%E2%80%932025_Canadian_pol...

by gucci-on-fleek

3/9/2026 at 11:56:13 AM

I am aware of couching statements in the report but the conclusion was so definitive that the government immediately tried to appeal it and failed.

"The Federal Court of Appeal confirms that the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act was unreasonable and ultra vires [beyond their legal authority], and that it infringed paragraph 2(b) and section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms." [0]

I am also aware that parliament is supreme. This is because the structure of Canada is that of a British colony. However that doesnt change the conclusion of the courts.

Ironically the exit of the Cabinet members highlights further corruption. Canada has transferred ~25 Billion to Ukraine. The minister responsible for the debanking of Canadians has left Canada and taken an official post in the Ukrainian government for the distribution of this money.[1]

In short you have completely no understanding of the level of corruption in this country.

[0] https://www.fca-caf.ca/en/pages/decisions/plain-language-dec...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrystia_Freeland

by petermcneeley

3/9/2026 at 1:57:53 PM

> https://www.fca-caf.ca/en/pages/decisions/plain-language-dec...

Huh, I wasn't aware of that, thanks. Looks like it only came out a couple months ago, which would explain how I missed it. But that indeed does seem pretty conclusive, so I'll gladly concede that point.

I'd still say that this is just standard government overreach/misuse of power and not corruption though.

> Ironically the exit of the Cabinet members highlights further corruption. Canada has transferred ~25 Billion to Ukraine. The minister responsible for the debanking of Canadians has left Canada and taken an official post in the Ukrainian government for the distribution of this money.

Ok, this one definitely sounds like corruption though. I haven't heard of this one before, so I'm not entirely sure about the details, but what you said does seem to broadly agree with what the linked Wikipedia article says.

And yeah, I agree that this sounds pretty bad.

> In short you have completely no understanding of the level of corruption in this country.

C'mon, there's no need for a semi-personal semi-attack here! I'm a Canadian living in Canada, so I like to think that I have a good idea what's going on in the country, but I'm of course mistaken sometimes.

Still, I think that you picked fairly weak examples; better ones would be the Sponsorship Scandal [0], the WE scandal [1], Aga Khan [2], and so on.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sponsorship_scandal

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WE_Charity_scandal

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aga_Khan_affair

by gucci-on-fleek

3/9/2026 at 4:12:43 AM

Bet you listen to Joe rogan too

by whattheheckheck

3/9/2026 at 12:06:48 PM

I do not.

by petermcneeley

3/9/2026 at 1:56:42 AM

Please define “corrupt”.

by vincent-manis

3/9/2026 at 2:18:21 AM

Much like the US, in Canada, the Federal government has relatively little influence on day-to-day life, and the general culture is heavily location-dependent. So someone moving to downtown Toronto will have a very different experience from someone moving to rural Alberta.

by gucci-on-fleek

3/9/2026 at 11:38:33 AM

Or Quebec. Way different than the two listed options.

by jleyank

3/9/2026 at 6:10:23 PM

I'm in American in Canada.

Nothing you can get here you couldn't in Texas or California or NYC, outside of healthcare (which is slowly being peeled away).

"Highly liberal" is laughable. In most cases the same bad actors causing problems in the US are the same in Canada.

by red-iron-pine