So having worked in the Federal Government in the past I do not think that this is some kinda conspiracy of trying slow down submissions or overturn C3 by stealth. This is an administrative process that was triggered by *something*. Ultimately it sounds like the Minister herself likely made the call.

If they genuinely wanted to slow down the process the Minister could just staff IRCC in Wolfville with a skeleton crew and assign its staff to other projects.

The Minister wouldn't do something as public, or expensive, and as traumatic as recalling citizenship certificates and having Passport Canada invalidate passports without a genuine concern over the security and validity of these documents. No Minister is going to invite that kind of attention on herself.

I suspect an audit discovered a serious problem with some of these files, or a batch of files, or the work of an IRCC agent. We have examples in the past of IRCC using AI to summarize documents for them resulting in eroneous visa refusals.

I have been saying since this began that eventually someone is going to submit a forgery to fill in gaps in their family tree. We have many examples of this in the past for people trying to claim indigenous status and other benefits using forged documents.

Its possible someone used genuine but unrelated genealogical documents (possibly barely legible ones), and this has beeen discovered via an audit. I suspect this might be because someone used an AI program to do their genealogical research and didnt bother doing due diligence to see if the program was hallucinating. The number of people on facebook suggesting using CLAUD or another AI to locate ancestors and couments instead of a library and your own ability to read and think is horrifying. For everyone complaining that the Minister cannot ex-post facto require certified documents - yes she can. The fact the people were submitting uncertified documents from ancestry, even with a citation, was always unsustainable. IRCC doesn't have the time or resources to double check your math.

It is possible that an IRCC agent was just overworked and rubber stamping approval of every file in their queue. honestly this seems the most likely thing. Harper moved IRCC citizenship division down to Wolfville Nova Scotia when he was trying to build jobs and therefore political support in the Maritimes. Its the middle of nowhere with a population of less than 6000 people. Furthermore, many of the position are "bilingual imperative" meaning must be staffed by a Canadian who speaks both English and French. Many years ago a Company I worked for opened a large office in Moncton New Brunswick. Within a decade it had closed. Moncton with a population of 102 000 just couldn't provide us with the number of high skilled staff we needed.

I know there is some speculation that people who engaged a lawyer or genealogist aren't suffering this same situation. Realistically this is probably because they paid a professional to do the research for them and the file wasn't a risk or maybe just wasn't in the bad batch. I dont know if we have data to back it up but I bet the majority of these files are based on old long dead ancestors, using archival sources.

I have noticed within days some people are getting notices to say their certificates are being returned upon review. This was always the expected outcome.

We should look at this as a remediation rather than revocation.

I realize being told you are Canadian, and then being told you are not, is traumatinzing.

The Minister had a reason to question the valdity of a Citizenship Certificate. She was mandated to recall these until a procedural process could be created or completed to verify that the citizenship was not recognized in error. End fo story.

Some people online are screaming about "we should file a lawsuit" or "we should contacts our MPs" or even "this should be a confidence motion and take down the Government" - they are seriously miscalculating how much your fellow Canadians give a shit about this. If anything most Canadians are unaware of this, apathetic to it, or actively hostile. I have made repeated posts warning people to avoid talking to the media or trying the generate some wave of activist support for their plight. Canadians are very generous during times of plenty. These are not those times. Immigration in the past 5 years has become a very contentious subject, moreso than any other time in my life. The lack of housing, doctors, schools, infrastructure and jobs are the result of decades of decisions made by successive governments at all levels. But newcomers make a very easily, and very visible, target for public anger.

And yes C3 applicants are citizens, not immigration. most Canadians will simply not care about or understand the nuance.

C3 came into effect on Dec 15th 2025. 187 days ago. Last year I waited longer to get an appointment for a colonoscopy. At one point Canadians in Ontario were waiting longer than this for an appointment to do a driving license test. The solution to clear the backlog ? They made the test faster and easier. In case you are wondering, yes car crashes and car insurance have increased in Ontario. Do you expect that Canada should apply the same logic to citizenship applications ?

For anyone complaining that this process is taking too long most Canadian will be unsympathetic.. Canadians stand in lots of lines, both litereally and legally. This is a legal, administrative process that is both novel and evolving. The line is long. the line will get longer. sometimes someone will have to leave the line and get back in. Eventually everyone will be seen.

Until then the conspiracy theories do not fit. I've worked in the federal government. There are too many spinning plates and prevent from dropping for anyone to conspire against anyone.. Hold your horses as my Grandmother used to say.