Backgrounder - Citizenship fast facts

This year is the 57^th anniversary of the Canadian Citizenship Act.
In 1947, Canada became the first Commonwealth country to gain its own citizenship act.
Prior to that, Canadians were considered British subjects residing in Canada, not Canadian citizens.
The Prime Minister at the time, William Lyon Mackenzie King, became the first Canadian citizen.

In the past 57 years, since the first Citizenship Act was enacted, almost 5.3 million people were granted Canadian citizenship.
In 2003, citizenship grants were up by 10% from 2002: 155,117 individuals took the oath of citizenship in 2003, compared to 141,588 the previous year.
According to the 2001 Census, about 85% of immigrants become Canadian citizens.
In 2003, 2,012 citizenship ceremonies were held.
By province or territory, the number of people to take the oath of citizenship in 2003, 2002, 2001 were:

Province	2003	2002	2001
Alberta	10,353	8,515	10,394
British Columbia	29,365	26,655	34,326
Manitoba	2,505	1,999	1,821
New Brunswick	374	268	369
Newfoundland	175	146	155
Nova Scotia	910	932	969
Northwest Territories	35	62	66
Nunavut	8	5	5
Ontario	87,611	83,677	94,372
Prince Edward Island	138	77	52
Quebec	19,189	15,511	20,246
Saskatchewan	1,286	798	979
Yukon	75	25	81
Outside Canada*	3,093	2,918	3,518
Total	155,117	141,588	167,353
* Number of children born abroad to Canadian parents.

221,352 immigrants came to Canada in 2003.
In 2003, the top five provinces of destination were Ontario (119,741), Quebec (39,551), British Columbia (35,228), Alberta (15,830), Manitoba (6,492).
According to the 2001 Census, almost one out of every five Canadian residents (18.4%) was born outside the country.
Based on available projections, it is expected that immigration will account for all net population growth sometime between 2026 and 2031, and for all labour force growth between 2011 and 2016.

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