Canadian 1946 citizenship legislation
The Canadian Citizenship Act () was a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1946 which created the legal status of Canadian citizenship. The Act defined who were Canadian citizens, separate and independent from the status of the British subject and repealed earlier Canadian legislation relating to Canadian nationals and citizens as sub-classes of British subject status.
The Act came into force on 1 January 1947 and was in force for thirty years, until replaced on 15 February 1977 by a new statute, the "Canadian Citizenship Act, 1976", now known as the "Citizenship Act".
Pre-1947: British subjects and Canadian citizens.
The status of "Canadian citizen" was originally created under the "Immigration Act, 1910" to designate those British subjects who were born, naturalized, or domiciled in Canada. All other British subjects required permission to land. "Domicile" was defined as having been resident in Canada for three years, excluding any time spent in prisons or mental institutions.
A separate status of "Canadian national" was created under the "Canadian Nationals Act, 1921", which was defined as being a Canadian citizen as defined above, their wives, and any children (fathered by such citizens) that had not yet landed in Canada.
However, these concepts were merely subsets of the status of "British subject", which was regulated by the Imperial British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914, which was adopted in Canada by the Naturalization Act, 1914.
Creation of Canadian Citizenship (January 1947).
Canadian citizenship, as a status separate from British nationality, was created by the "Canadian Citizenship Act" of 1946, which came into effect on 1 January 1947. (Although passed in 1946, it is often referred to as the "1947 Citizenship Act" because it came into force in 1947.) 
Immediate effect.
Canadian citizenship was generally conferred immediately on the following persons:
In the latter two cases, a "Canadian" was a British subject who would have been considered a Canadian citizen if the 1947 Act had come into force immediately before the marriage or birth (as the case may be). Where the child born outside Canada was not a minor (i.e., was not under 21 years in age) at the time the Act came into force, proof of landed immigrant status was required to confirm Canadian citizenship.
Acquisition of citizenship after 1947.
In addition to those people who became Canadian citizens upon the coming into force of the Act, citizenship afterwards was generally acquired as follows:
Newfoundland and citizenship.
A notable addition to the 1947 Act occurred when Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. All native or naturalized Newfoundlanders were granted Canadian citizenship under the laws stated in the "Citizenship Act", upon the date of union on 1 April 1949.
Inuit and First Nations from Alaska.
In 1956, Parliament amended the "Citizenship Act" to retroactively grant citizenship to a small group of First Nations and Inuit who had entered Canada from Alaska at some point before 1947 but had not made formal application to enter Canada. The amendment provided that anyone who was defined as "Indians" (First Nations) or "Eskimos" (Inuit), and who were not natural-born citizens, but were domiciled in Canada on 1 January 1947, and had been resident in Canada for ten years as at 1 January 1956, were granted citizenship retroactive to January 1, 1947.
Loss of citizenship.
Loss of Canadian citizenship generally occurred in the following cases:
Although Canada restricted dual citizenship between 1947 and 1977, there were some situations where Canadians could nevertheless legally possess another citizenship. For example, migrants becoming Canadian citizens were not asked to formally prove that they had ceased to hold the nationality of their former country. Similarly children born in Canada to non-Canadian parents were not under any obligation to renounce a foreign citizenship they had acquired by descent. Holding a foreign passport did not "in itself" cause loss of Canadian citizenship.
References.
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