The federal government is helping Canadians who lost their citizenship due to an obscure section of the Citizenship Act — but not if they were war babies, CBC News learned Friday.

'My whole existence they're tossing into the garbage without a second thought.'—Sheila Walshe of Kelowna, B.C., a war baby

Many of those people only found out they weren't considered Canadians when they applied for passports recently. The little-known law, which was in effect from 1947 until 1977, required people born outside the country to confirm their Canadian citizenship before their 28th birthday.

The law only applied to people who were part of second and subsequent generations born outside of Canada, not to all Canadians born abroad.

Last week, the federal government announced it would help those caught by the 1947 law, fast-tracking their applications to have their citizenship restored. About 450 people are getting help.

But children born overseas to Canadian soldiers during World War II will not be among them because of an ongoing court battle involving one of these children, the CBC has learned.

Until the court case is resolved, Ottawa said it can't help any of these people, who were commonly known as war babies.

"I'm devastated," said Sheila Walshe of Kelowna, B.C., a war baby who was shocked to find out in 1991 that she was not a Canadian citizen.

"This is my life they're talking about. My whole existence they're tossing into the garbage without a second thought."

132 war babies put on hold, official says

Many cases of lost citizenship were only discovered recently, as people applied for passports to comply with a Jan. 23 U.S. rule requiring Canadians to carry passports while flying to the United States. 

Melanie Carkner, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, told CBC News that 132 war babies have applied for help, but their applications are being put on hold.

She said Ottawa said it is waiting for the outcome of the appeal it has launched in the case of war baby Joe Taylor, a British accountant whose father was a Canadian soldier.

Taylor, who is in his sixties, wanted to move from Britain to British Columbia but learned he lost his Canadian citizenship because he never confirmed it. In 2006, he took his case to Canada's Federal Court and won his citizenship back.

Ottawa is now appealing.

It is estimated that 20,000 people in Canada were born overseas during World War II. Most were born to war brides, who rejoined their Canadian soldier husbands in Canada when the war ended.