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Thanks to a new law, Canada will bestow citizenship Friday on what its government believes could be hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting foreigners, most of them Americans.

The April 17 amendment to Canada’s Citizenship Act automatically restores Canadian nationality to many people forced to renounce it when they became citizens of another country. It also grants citizenship to their children.

The Canadian government doesn’t know the precise number or location of individuals affected by the legislation. But it believes most are U.S. citizens, a spokeswoman for Canada’s immigration office said. U.S. Department of Homeland Security records show 240,000 Canadians were naturalized in the U.S. from 1948 to 1977; the new law fixes problems that occurred during those years.

Thank God they waited till after Bush left office. Otherwise we would have been plagued by D list celebrities suddenly discovering a lost Canadian ancestor.

More:Canada Issues a Wake-Up Call: You May Be a Citizen

You tube video featuring obligatory diverse mountie (they couldn’t have made him a Sikh?) after the jump.

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