My best friend and his brother are currently in the process of getting their Canadian citizenship using exactly their grandmother's birth certificate. I'd recommend getting a lawyer to handle the paperwork, but other than that it's been a pretty straightforward process. They started the process back in November and should be Canadian citizens before summer. My friend's first ever passport will be a Canadian one.

You’ll also need your parents info. It’s all on the Canadian immigration website and pretty easy to do, you just have to file the steps carefully. I got mine last summer through my parent’s in Canada, we just sent in my wife’s based on her grandparent’s

There is no generation limit so you could go back to your great great greats or later if you wanted. I have quite a few great great grandparents who were born in Quebec and I'm gonna go for it.

For people born after Dec 15, 2025 there is a requirement for a parent to have been in Canada for a while, but I don't know how many babies are using Lemmy and reading this.

canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/act-changes/rules-2025.html

Having your grandmother’s birth is a great start.

You need to prove a direct line of descent by birth* back to your grandmother — assuming she’s the last generation born or naturalized in Canada.

So, her birth certificate would establish that she was Canadian if it’s from a Canadian province or territory. However, you will also need to demonstrate :

• that one of your parents was her child with their long form birth certificate with her name listed as their mother — if your grandmother’s family name changed in marriage, you’ll need a marriage certificate or other proof to show she was the same person;

• likewise, you’ll need to demonstrate that parent your parent’s child through your long form birth record and possibly your parents’ marriage certificate if claiming through your mother.

*Adoption unfotunately continues to not have quite the same process:

If you were adopted, and you are claiming citizenship through your adoptive grandmother, this is possible but it’s a two step process where your adoptive parent would need a Confirmation of citizenship first and then you could apply for a grant of citizenship.

If the parent you are claiming citizenship through was adopted by your grandmother, as the Act is now, they would not be able to pass down citizenship to you. They could get a grant of citizenship for themselves but it would only come into effect the day the grant is made and couldn’t only pass it down to their children born after the date of granting.

Should be, as long as your able to prove lineage, and it wasn't uncommon at the time for the wife to drop her maiden name for the spouse's, so you may have to also dig out a certificate for the name change if that is the case.