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Re: Question On Becoming A Citizen in 1920s Canada #canada

Alan Greenberg
 

You are sort of correct, but not quite.

First, there was no concept of Citizenship in Canada. If you naturalized, you because a British Subject (citizenship in Canada did not come about until 1947). But that does not alter your basic question. The Naturalization Act of 1914 required an applicant to have been resident in Canada for at least 1 year, and resident in some British territory for at least 5 years. So residence in England for 4 years followed by just 1 year in Canada would suffice.

That probably does not address your case. Census data is notoriously unreliable. The naturalization file would likely give the data of arrival as well as the ship.

Sadly with the pandemic, as Jeri knows, it is taking many months to get naturalization records.

Alan Greenberg
JGS-Montreal





At 2021-01-03 03:47 PM, Teewinot via groups.jewishgen.org wrote:
Happy New Year Cousins!

I'm trying to figure out a possible puzzle. I say possible, because I'm
not even sure I have the right people (same common name).

According to one index I found, it has my cousin (definitely him) taking
the Oath of Allegiance in Montreal in June 1923.

I found a person of the same name in the 1921 Canada census for
Montreal. Some of the information fits and makes sense (occupation and
marital status), some of it doesn't. It says this person's nationality
was "United States" and that he arrived in Canada in 1920. It was my
understanding that my cousin went right from Grodno Gubernia to Montreal
(date unknown), but I suppose that could be wrong.

How long did a person have to live in Canada before they could apply for
and obtain citizenship? I thought it was five years. This seems like
too short a time if these two people are one and the same.

Thank you,
Jeri Friedman
Port Saint Lucie, Florida

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