Why Canada can’t strip Elon Musk of Canadian citizenship

House of Commons petition signed by more than a quarter of a million Canadians

Elizabeth Thompson · CBC News ·

An online petition calling on the Canadian government to revoke Elon Musk’s citizenship is on track to become one of the most popular in the history of the House of Commons.

There’s just one problem — Canada can’t revoke Musk’s citizenship.

Immigration lawyer Gabriela Ramo says that under Canadian law, someone’s citizenship can only be revoked if it can be proven that they committed fraud or misrepresentation to obtain it.

“Before they could move to do this, they would need to introduce legislation, there would have to be amendments to the current Citizenship Act,” said Ramo, former chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s immigration section. “There’s no provision that would allow them to pursue revocation of citizenship of a Canadian birth, by virtue of his birth to a Canadian mother.”

Ramo said it is “fairly rare” for Canadian citizenship to be revoked.

Rémi Larivière, media relations officer for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said the government does not take the revocation of citizenship lightly.

“A person’s citizenship can be revoked if the person obtained, retained, renounced or resumed his or her citizenship by false representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances,” Larivière said.

NDP MP Charlie Angus says the petition he’s sponsoring to Parliament to strip Elon Musk of his Canadian citizenship is about ‘sending a message’ to Musk and the U.S. government. Legal experts say someone’s citizenship can only be revoked if it can be proven that they committed fraud or misrepresentation to obtain it.

He said the process includes several steps and a decision by a Federal Court judge unless the citizen in question asks the immigration minister to make the decision.

Musk’s citizenship has been in the spotlight in recent days after British Columbia author Qualia Reed launched the petition last week calling for the Canadian government to revoke Musk’s citizenship and his Canadian passport, given the role that he is playing in U.S. President Donald Trump’s government.

• NDP MP Angus calls for investigation into Elon Musk over potential election interference

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“Elon Musk has engaged in activities that go against the national interest of Canada,” reads the petition sponsored by New Democrat MP Charlie Angus. “He has used his wealth and power to influence our elections; he has now become a member of a foreign government that is attempting to erase Canadian sovereignty; and the attempts of Elon Musk to attack Canadian sovereignty must be addressed.”

The petition has collected more than 263,000 signatures since it was posted on Feb. 20. The province with the most signatures, more than 96,000, is Ontario, followed by more than 53,000 from British Columbia, more than 43,000 from Quebec and more than 25,000 from Alberta.

Petition nearing record

Those who sign a House e-petition have to provide their email address, full name, postal code and phone number. Canadian citizens living outside of Canada are eligible to sign petitions as well, said Olivier Duhaime, spokesman for the House of Commons. House staff verify a signatory’s information and if they find it is not authentic or permissible, the clerk of petitions can disallow it.

The record number of signatures for a House of Commons e-petition is 387,487 for a petition calling for a vote of no confidence in the Liberal government, tabled in January 2024 by Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri.

Musk posted this on X, commenting on a petition calling on the government to revoke his Canadian citizenship. (Elon Musk/X)

Musk was born in South Africa but his mother, Maye Musk, was born in Regina, giving him the right to Canadian citizenship. As a teenager, Musk decided to move to Canada.

“I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books,” he posted on Dec. 28, 2019. “Worked on my Mom’s cousin’s farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford.”

Musk met his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, at Queen’s University.

In February 2024, Musk posted on X that it took him over a decade to get U.S. citizenship, which he is reported to have received in 2002.

Musk and his companies have not responded to questions from CBC News in recent weeks about the status of his Canadian citizenship.

His mother has posted on X that it took her 12 years to get U.S. citizenship but now all of her children and her grandchildren have U.S. citizenship.

As recently as July 31, 2023, Musk posted a picture of himself wearing an I Love Canada T-shirt. In April 2023, he posted a picture of Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen with the message “I’m proudly half Canadian!”

On Jan. 8, 2024, Musk posted “I do love Canada,” the same day as he posted “They won’t make it past the next election” in response to a post about Chrystia Freeland.

Musk has also posted messages supporting Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

In 2024, Musk’s political involvement increased, throwing his support behind U.S. President Donald Trump’s re-election bid and making donations worth an estimated $288 million US to Trump and other Republican candidates.

In return, Trump put Musk in charge of his newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has turned the U.S. government upside down with mass firings in one department after another.

U.S. federal workers were ordered to justify their jobs this weekend by submitting five bullet points on their accomplishments from the past week or face termination. The initiative, spearheaded by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team, has Republican backing, Democratic opposition and warnings of legal challenges ahead.

When Trump threatened in January to turn Canada into the 51st state and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded on X “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” Musk mocked Trudeau, who had announced earlier in the week he would resign.

“Girl, you’re not the governor of Canada anymore, so doesn’t matter what you say.”

Angus, who sponsored the petition to strip Musk of Canadian citizenship, admits that the move is symbolic but has touched a lot of people.

Americans have targeted Musk in protests of the Trump administration’s cutting of government agencies. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)

“I wasn’t expecting that it would explode the way it did,” Angus said in an interview. “To me it was really instructive because it shows just how angry Canadians are about what’s happening in Washington and how angry people are at the actions of Elon Musk. To me this is a real symbol of this moment.”

Angus has also sponsored an e-petition from Albertan Gerard Aldridge, which calls on the Canadian government to refuse Trump entry to Canada because of his criminal conviction and his actions in office. That petition, started at the same time, currently has more than 23,000 signatures.

Last month, Angus sent letters to Elections Canada and the Commissioner of Canada Elections, asking them to investigate his concerns that Musk could use his platform X to interfere in the upcoming Canadian election.

At the time, Elections Canada said it was an issue for the commissioner’s office. Angus said Monday that he has not yet heard back from the Commissioner of Canada Elections.

Elizabeth Thompson / Senior reporter

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