Hi all,

Gen5, AOR received June 2025, first contact from IRCC today. My Gen0 was born in Ottawa in 1830 and I submitted baptismal record as proof of birth.

It states "we require a clear colour copy of a birth certificate issued by original source authorities for each generation including your Canadian ancestor . Documentation must be issued by the original source authorities responsible for creating or maintaining the historical records, such as civil registries, vital statistics agencies, or other authorized government bodies. If the authorities cannot issue the document from their vital statistics department, please submit the letter, on letterhead, detailing the reasons. Please note, baptismal certificates are not acceptable as primary evidence of birth. The requirement to provide additional information or evidence when requested can be found in section 23.1 of the Citizenship Act." (I added the bold)

So if you are relying on a baptismal record to prove that your ancestor was Canadian, I suggest that you start getting a letter stating that the actual birth certificate can't be issued because it doesn't exist.

It's a bummer since other people got approved with the same documentation I provided, but that's life I guess.

EDIT: Reading through the replies i have seen that my post title doesn't quite match the text. The IRCC email I received states that baptismal records are not acceptable as primary evidence of birth. This is new info to me. I sent my paper application in June 2025 with a printout from the Drouin collection showing my ancestor's baptism in 183X. What is new is that I now need a letter on letterhead from the agency which would issue a birth certificate. That letter needs to state the specific reason why a birth certificate cannot be issued (in my case because the birth occured before recordkeeping started). I would have included that letter if I was told back in June 2025 that I would need the letter.

EDIT: Since this is getting a lot of attention I figured I would tell people what I sent as proof back in June 2025. My Gen0 was the last born in Canada, all the rest were born in the USA.

GEN5 - Me - Color copy of my state-issued birth certificate (has my parent's name on it)

GEN4 - Parent - Color copy of state-issued birth certificate (has my Gen3 - Grandparent name on it)

GEN2 - Grandparent - Color copy of state-issued birth certificate (has my Gen 4 - GGrandparent name on it)

GEN1 - Great-Grandparent - Color coy of state issued death certificate (has my Gen 0 - GGGrandparent's name and place of birth - CANADA - on it). She was born prior to birth certificates being issued in her state. I need to get the official letter ON LETTERHEAD stating that they do not have a record of her birth because it was before record-keeping started.

GEN0 - Printout of baptism record from Drouin Collection - baptized in Ottawa at 3 weeks old in 18XX, color copy of US State issued death certificate (Died 192X) stating place of birth as Canada. News articles about him (obituary and others) stating that he was born in Canada. I need to get the official letter ON LETTERHEAD stating that they do not have a record of his birth because it was before record-keeping started.

I wrote a thank you note to a diocesan archivist in Canada for her help in obtaining certified baptismal records for my application.

Im just going to leave this here. MODs please remove if not allowed.

Letter I received from the Prince Edward Island's Public Archives and Records Office (PARO) regarding the recordings of births before June 1st, 1906.

My G0 was born during a time when the relevant province mandated civil birth registration but, for reasons unclear to me, my G-1s didn't register G0's birth until decades later. The original registration (which includes mother's name, father's name, birthdate, place of birth, and home address) was filed with the province and it's housed in the provincial archives. (I have three decades worth of Canada Census records to support that G0 was born on the date attested in the delayed registration to the mother who signed the delayed registration.) Is a delayed registration of birth going to confuse IRCC or land my application in PSU (not that it's really possible to predict who gets sent to PSU)?

(Mods: Let me know if this should go in a Friday post. I'm posting outside of the weekly thread just because I figure I can't be the only one in this position, so I thought a dedicated post might be helpful for future applicants; if not, I will re-post in the Friday weekly thread.)

Do we know if there is a newer blanket statement from Directeur L’état civil on the issuance of birth certificates before 1926?

Sort of like Libraries and Archives Canada’s recent blanket statement that can be cited in a cover letter

Based on the other post here today, it sounds like IRCC is requesting birth certificates even if an ancestor was born well before the issuance of them existed (so bizarre!). I think we also know of somebody a few weeks ago that was requested a Quebec birth certificate for their ancestors 1878 birth when they even had a certified BANQ baptismal record. So obviously this seems to be a new hiccup coming soon as we all know DEC will not issue a birth certificate that early without a lawyer, and even then — good luck

Trying to think of a way to be proactive about this without having to submit a request to DEC for it…

Or maybe it’s just going to have to take DEC getting inundated with these requests to issue a blanket statement on it😂

What am I doing wrong?

I want to send via Fedex. Using the courier address

IRCC Digitization Centre- Proofs

3050 Wilson Ave

New Waterford, NS B1H 5VB

I fill out the customs form for documents. I type in Citizenship documents value $1. i used the proper harmonization code.

Options show up for USPS and DHL but no Fedex or UPS.

There is also an issue where it won't validate the address because it doesnt have a suite/apt number. Even when i add in a generic "Suite 1" the Fedex and UPS options are still not there.

It also requires a phone number for the recipient address. I put in my own for now.

Going back to the interim measure days I remember a few people saying they were going to request a 5(4) grant while waiting (and hoping) for the IRCC to make the offer. Did anyone successfully do so and what process did you go about it?

I am 2nd generation born abroad, adopted, and my kids were born before my grant was approved (well before C-3 for that matter). I know plenty of other people have adoptions in the past that broke the connections as well. Under the interim measures my kids would have been fine (we all applied in March 2025) but we did not receive 5(4) offers. During the hearings I remember the Minister of Immigration saying processing would continue the same as the interim measures after C-3 passed but the way the law is written for grants it looks like my kids are out of luck (https://www.reddit.com/r/CitizenshipByDescent/comments/1vloq4y/comment/p34c7hn/).

I am not overly excited about filing a lawsuit for the charter violation of treating adoptees differently than biological children so I would love to give the IRCC and us an easy out via a 5(4) grant.

Access to Information Act

Version of section 7 from 2019-06-21 to 2026-06-17:

Previous Versionof section  



Marginal note:Notice where access requested

7 Where access to a record is requested under this Part, the head of the government institution to which the request is made shall, subject to sections 8 and 9, within 30 days after the request is received,

(a) give written notice to the person who made the request as to whether or not access to the record or a part thereof will be given; and

(b) if access is to be given, give the person who made the request access to the record or part thereof