A Canadian passport () is the passport issued to citizens of Canada. It enables the bearer to enter or re-enter Canada freely; travel to and from other countries in accordance with visa requirements; facilitates the process of securing assistance from Canadian consular officials abroad, if necessary; and requests protection for the bearer while abroad.
All Canadian passports are issued through the Passport Program of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Prior to 1 July 2013, Canadian passports were issued through Passport Canada, an independent operating agency of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. Passports are normally valid for five or ten years for persons 16 years of age and older, and five years for children under 16. In 2022, 70% of Canadians had passports, with over 24.6 million passports in circulation. Although held by individual citizens, all Canadian passports legally remain the property of the Crown and must be returned to the Passport Program upon request.
Canada is a member of the Five Nations Passport Group, an international forum for cooperation between the passport issuing authorities of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States in order to "share best practices and discuss innovations related to the development of passport policies, products and practices".
Canada began issuing biometric passports, also known as electronic passports or e-passports, to Canadian citizens on 1 July 2013.
, the Canadian passport ranks eighth in the world in terms of freedom of movement and travel according to the Henley Passport Index.
A new passport featuring more security features and artwork was rolled out in summer 2023.
History
The first Canadian passports were issued in 1862 following the outbreak of the American Civil War, when the United States demanded more secure identification from Canadians wishing to cross the border. They took the form of a "Letter of Request" from the Governor General of Canada. These documents remained in use until 1915, when Canadian passports were first issued in the British format, a ten-section single-sheet folder.
The modern form of the Canadian passport came about in 1921. At that time, Canadians were British subjects, and Canada shared a common nationality with the United Kingdom; thus, Canadian passports were issued to those British subjects resident in or connected to Canada. This arrangement ended in 1947, when the Canadian Citizenship Act was granted Royal Assent and the designation of Canadian citizenship was created. Beginning in July the following year, Canadian passports were issued to Canadian citizens only. However, the first page of Canadian Passports still declared that "A Canadian Citizen is a British Subject", as such was a main clause of the Citizenship Act 1946. This would remain until the Act was overhauled and replaced by the Citizenship Act 1976, after which the phrase on the first page of Canadian Passports was changed to read: "The bearer of this passport is a Canadian citizen."
Between 1947 and 1970, Canadian citizens could only apply for passports by mail to Ottawa. Requirements were simple, and applicants claiming birth in Canada did not have to provide proof of birth. The lax security led to numerous cases of misuse of the passport, so the Canadian Government tightened the application requirements from 1970. That year, the first three Passport Canada offices were opened in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
The size dimensions of a closed Canadian passport were originally much larger. This changed in the early 1980s in the lead up to the introduction of Machine-Readable Passports (MRP) when the smaller sized booklet was first introduced.
In 1985, the first version of MRPs was issued, in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization standards. An amended version came into circulation in 1991, with additional security features and more stringent processing requirements. By 1993, a newer version of MRP was introduced, which contained unique features to prevent replication or alteration.
Since 11 December 2001, children have not been included in parents' passports, and passports have been issued for one person only.