Originally Posted by
Mwenenzi
The unluckiest was Larissa Waters born in Canada and left at ~11 months old. Apparently Canada changed its laws not long after, so if she had been born ~1 year later she would not have been considered a Canadian citizen.
No, everyone born in Canada is automatically a citizen, unless both parents are foreign and one or more is a diplomat.
Until 14 Feb 1977, Canadian citizens born in Canada lost their citizenship if they became a citizen of another country while outside Canada.
From 15 Feb 1977 there was no more automatic loss of Canadian citizenship except in various niche circumstances.
Waters was born on 8 Feb 1977 and she was only a Canadian citizen at birth, because Australian citizenship by descent is not automatic.
Thus from the publicly available information, Waters would only have lost her Canadian citizenship automatically, if her parents brought her back to Australia, applied for Australian citizenship by descent in Australia, and had it granted, all before she was 6 days old.
If Australian citizenship by descent had been automatic in 1977, then she was a multiple citizen at birth and would not have lost Canadian citizenship regardless of the Canadian law changes. So either way she would always have had to actively renounce Canadian citizenship to meet the requirements to hold federal office in Australia.
Before 14 Feb 1977, Canadian citizens born outside Canada may have automatically lost citizenship by long residence outside Canada, or failing to notify Canada they wanted to retain citizenship, and perhaps Waters' parents mistakenly thought this applied to her.