This site recounts my personal journey to apply for proof of Canadian citizenship. It is not legal advice. For official info check out the Government of Canada’s IRCC

About Me

Image description: a fresh baguette next to a bundle of pink roses with dark green leaves. They are on a stone surface in front of rippling, grey-blue water 
Hello!

Image description: a fresh baguette next to a bundle of pink roses with dark green leaves. They are on a stone surface in front of rippling, grey-blue water

Hello there! I’m Bread and Roses. I’m a queer woman (she/her) currently living in the United States, but planning to move to Canada. To make that happen, I applied for Canadian citizenship by descent under the amended citizenship law that went into effect 15 December 2025 (sometimes called C-3).

Along my journey, I was taken advantage of by an immigration attorney who charged me almost $10,000 CAD to give me misinformation, stress, and delays. When she quit, it turned out to be a blessing because I spent the time to researching the law and submitting an even better application package to have my Canadian citizenship recognized.

I’m sharing my story here, including my experience with each step along the way, and many free resources from incredible volunteer-led communities. I hope you find inspiration to follow whatever dream you’re chasing.

My Story

There shouldn’t be a price to claim your
Canadian citizenship. But for me, the price was high.

So I decided to share my story.

In 2025, I came to the sad realization that I couldn’t safely stay in the United States much longer. I’m a queer, Autistic, disabled, vocal activist, but I also have a lot of privilege as a white, femme-presenting person. I started researching countries that I might be able to immigrate to, but I was really struggling to find a good option for me, so I kept postponing making any serious plans to leave. And frankly, as an activist and community organizer, I felt a little bit torn about whether I should leave.

The site’s logo is a dusty pink circle enclosing a dark red sketched maple leaf with “Claiming Canadian Citizenship” in the middle

Image description: The site’s logo is a dusty pink circle enclosing a dark red sketched maple leaf with “Claiming Canadian Citizenship” in the middle

But that changed when I became the target of a right-wing extremist who hated my work in the community and upended my life as I knew it.

In early 2026, I saw something online about Canada removing their first-generation descent limit for citizenship. “Gosh,” I thought to myself, “how lucky are those people that can claim that!”

But I couldn’t let the thought go. The next day, I decided to sign up for an Ancestry.com. I put in as much information as I knew about my father and his father - I only knew my grandfather’s first and last name and where he had lived when my father was born, but that was enough to start getting hints! As I read through each record, I gleaned enough information to figure out his father (my great-grandfather’s) name and, lo and behold, MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS CANADIAN!

With that, the adventure began. I was ready to start working on my application for proof that I was a Canadian citizen.

After several months of work, an unscrupulous attorney that sidetracked me, I finally submitted my application for a Canadian Citizenship Certificate. I’m not an attorney or an expert, but I want to share my story in case it helps to inspire you.