The Canadian Citizenship Act (French: Loi sur la citoyenneté canadienne) was a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1946 which created the legal status of Canadian citizenship. The Act defined who were Canadian citizens, separate and independent from the status of the British subject and repealed earlier Canadian legislation relating to Canadian nationals and citizens as sub-classes of British subject status.The Act came into force on 1 January 1947 and was in force for thirty years, until replaced on 15 February 1977 by a new statute, the Canadian Citizenship Act, 1976, now known as the Citizenship Act.