Good practices in access to universal birth registration for the prevention of childhood statelessness guarantor. There is no fee for registration within 12 months of the birth, but there is a fee for a birth certificate, which parents can request for $25-$35 (CAD) depending on the type of certificate. There is a procedure for late birth registration (with a fee), and additional information may be needed for certain situations.128 As in many countries in the Americas, Canada’s nationality law provides for ‘birthright citizenship’:129 all babies born on Canadian territory automatically acquire Canadian citizenship, with a few exceptions, for example, babies born to diplomat families. There is also a specific provision in the nationality law relating to stateless people: “Despite any other provision of this Act, the Minister may, in his or her discretion, grant citizenship to any person to alleviate cases of statelessness or of special and unusual hardship or to reward services of an exceptional value to Canada.”130 A further provision requires citizenship to be granted to certain stateless people under the age of 23 who were born to a Canadian parent outside Canada, provided that they have been physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days during the four years immediately before the date of application, have always been stateless and have not been convicted of specified criminal offences.131 Indigenous people There are provisions in Canadian law that enable Indigenous people whose births were not registered to apply for late registration and, subsequently, a passport.132 Lack of birth registration or identity documents is an inter-generational issue for some Indigenous families, because it is more difficult to register a child’s birth if the mother’s birth was not registered. A legal clinic that assists Indigenous communities provides an example of good practice in assisting marginalized communities where there are low rates of birth registration and/or possession of a birth certificate. Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic133 in 128 Newborn Registration Service, Government of Ontario (no date); and see: Burnett, K., Sanders, C., and Kinnaaweya Legal Clinic, with NorWest Community Health Centres and the ID Action Group of Thunder Bay, A call to action: Eliminate Systemic Barriers to Obtaining and Keeping Ontario Birth Certificates, Thunder Bay, Ontario, 2022. 129 Citizenship Act, Government of Canada, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-29, entered into force 15 February 1977, as amended 19 August 2024, Section 3. 130 Ibid., Section 5(4). 131 Ibid., Section 5(5). 132 Canadian Centre of Statelessness, Statelessness in Canada, p. 19. 133 Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic, Awenen Niin Identification Program. 52