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OTTAWA - The federal government is being urged to draft a new citizenship act rather than implement patchwork reforms to the "archaic" legislation now on the books.

Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi and Don Chapman, who represents many so-called "lost Canadians," say Tory government proposals to amend the Citizenship Act are admirable but fall short.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley has said proposed legislation tabled Monday will deal with 95 per cent of people who unjustly lost or were never granted their citizenship.

Finley says others will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Telegdi contends there is too much legislative baggage inherent in the existing bill and there are "tens of thousands" of people not covered by the proposed amendments.

It's time Canada had citizenship legislation that fully complies with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, that is easy to read and easy to understand, he said.

"You should not have to be a constitutional lawyer to be able to decipher if you are a citizen or not."

A government spokesman said about 450 of the people who have contacted Citizenship and Immigration seeking citizenship may fall into one of the categories covered by the proposals.

"These are cases that are being individually reviewed and, for some, the minister is providing a special grant of citizenship," said departmental spokesman Doug Kellam. "She has done so for about 100 of those cases thus far."

Canadian citizenship was murky before the 1947 Citizenship Act and many war brides and their children relied on government orders-in-council to resolve their status.

Among other things, the rules said children born out of wedlock, or children of a father who adopted a second nationality, could be disqualified as Canadian citizens.

Some estimate the number who were denied rightful citizenship in the hundreds of thousands.

"The proposed legislation casts a wider net and the government cannot be certain as to how many people will potentially be affected nor how many of them will ultimately come forward," Kellam said in an e-mail.

"What's key is that the people affected by the bill will be Canadian citizens and will be able to come forward at any time to claim their status."

The proposals would restore status to anyone born in Canada or who became a Canadian on or after Jan. 1, 1947, and then lost their citizenship.

They also include war brides who are not already Canadian and people born in Canada prior to 1947 who became citizens when the first citizenship act took effect.

The exceptions would be those who renounced their citizenship with Canadian authorities, those born in Canada to a foreign diplomat, or those whose citizenship was revoked by the government because it was obtained by fraud.

Anyone born abroad to a Canadian on or after Jan. 1, 1947, would be recognized as a Canadian citizen from birth, but only if they are the first generation born abroad. The exceptions would be those who renounced their citizenship. No one who is a citizen today would lose their citizenship as a result of the amendments.

Chapman said Canada needs a new citizenship act, whether through revised amendments or a whole new rewrite.

"This government is the first government that has really seriously taken the lost-Canadian issue on," said Chapman, who stands to regain his citizenship under the proposed amendments.

"I hope this is either a fix or (the committee members) are able to fine-tune it and that we can come out of this with everybody's citizenship intact.

"Let's close this very archaic, horrid chapter of Canadian history once and for all and let's get on with it. We need a new citizenship act."

Liberal Jim Karygiannis warns the proposed measures would create future lost Canadians.

"This is unconscionable," said Karygiannis, a member of the citizenship and immigration committee.

"The government is disallowing second-generation Canadians born abroad to claim their birthright."

A statement issued Tuesday by Finley's office said the previous Liberal government "had years to help lost Canadians but chose not to act."

"We are taking action to help those who have been denied Canadian citizenship," said the statement.

"We are proposing a broad and generous legislative solution that will eliminate complex bureaucratic processes and give people the citizenship status they deserve."

It said the Commons committee report unanimously called for citizenship to be limited to first-generation Canadians born abroad.

"Our proposed bill reflects that. Mr. Karygiannis is a part of the committee."