1. they have a birth parent who was a citizen at the time of the birth, 2. are less than 23 years of age, 3. have been physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days during the four years immediately before the date of application, 4. have always been stateless, and 5. have not been convicted of specific criminal offenses.40 29. This creates a risk that children of Canadian nationals born abroad would remain stateless for some years during their childhood. The provisions also exclude second generation children born abroad prior to the 2009 amendment. The current Canadian practice concerning a child’s right to nationality is thus inconsistent with its obligations under international law. An expert meeting on the 1961 Convention convened by UNHCR indicated the following: ‘The right of every child to acquire a nationality, as set out in CRC Article 7 and the principle of the best interest of the child contained in CRC Article 3, create a strong presumption that Contracting States should provide for automatic acquisition of their nationality at birth to an otherwise stateless child born abroad to one of its nationals. In cases where Contracting States require an application procedure, international human rights law, in particular the CRC, obliges States to accept such applications as soon as possible after birth’.41 30. Canada’s Citizenship Act provides that adopted children may become Canadian citizens without having first to obtain permanent resident status.42 There is not, however, a simplified naturalisation process for adopted stateless children. 31. The Act also provides that foundlings under the age of seven are deemed to have been born in Canada and are thus Canadian citizens, unless within seven years of being found it is demonstrated that the child was not born in Canada.43 The Act does not, however, provide protection against statelessness where a foundling is determined to have been born abroad, even where revocation of Canadian citizenship would result in statelessness. 32. The acquisition of Canadian citizenship by naturalisation can be declared null if it was acquired fraudulently, even if this results in statelessness. Under the current Citizenship Act the nullification of naturalisation can be extended to all family members, including children, who acquired Canadian citizenship on the same basis.44 Risk of Arbitrary Detention 33. International law requires that where immigration detention is necessary for a legitimate purpose, it must be as brief as possible and must not be indefinite.45 ‘Routine detention of individuals seeking protection on the grounds of statelessness is arbitrary’.46 Stateless persons also benefit from the general 40 Section 5 (5). Citizenship Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-29. UNHCR, Summary Conclusions of the Expert Meeting on Interpreting the 1961 Statelessness Convention and Preventing Statelessness among Children, para.37 (2011) 42 Section 5.1. Citizenship Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-29. 43 Section 4(1). Citizenship Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-29. 44 Assal v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [2016] FC 505. 45 UNHCR, Guidelines on the Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers and Alternatives to Detention, 2012, paras 15-21, 34. Available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/503489533b8.html. 46 UNHCR, Statelessness Handbook (note 12), para 112. 41 7