Summary:
Indigenous people can reclaim traditional names on passports and other federal government identification, free of charge for five years. Ontario, N.W.T., Nova Scotia, Alberta, Quebec, New Brunswick and B.C. have also waived fees for five years for name changes on identity documents.
The Call to Action:
We call upon all levels of government to enable residential school survivors and their families to reclaim names changed by the residential school system by waiving administrative costs for a period of five years for the name-change process and the revision of official identity documents, such as birth certificates, passports, driver’s licences, health cards, status cards, and social insurance numbers.
Analysis:
In June 2021, the federal government announced that Indigenous people can reclaim their traditional names on passports and other federal government identification for free for the next five years.
Then-Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said the change applies to all individuals of First Nations, Inuit and Métis background, regardless of whether they attended residential schools.
Citizenship Minister Marco Mendicino said all fees will be waived for the process, which pertains to passports, citizenship certificates and permanent resident cards.
Ontario, N.W.T., Nova Scotia, Alberta, Quebec, New Brunswick and B.C. have agreed to waive fees for name changes on identity documents to allow people to reclaim names.
Federally, Service Canada charges no fees for name changes for the social insurance number (SIN).
Alberta began waiving the fees for name changes for residential school survivors, their descendants, and people affected by the Sixties Scoop in 2019 and planned to waive them until 2024. In June 2021, the province announced it was removing the end date and would continue waiving the fees indefinitely.
In early 2017, Ontario committed to “waiving name change fees for Indigenous people who are residential school survivors and family members of survivors (spouse, direct descendant’s spouse) seeking to reclaim a name changed by the residential school system,” according to a provincial progress report.
The Ontario government also made legislative changes to allow those people to register with single names. The fees will be waived until March 2024.
As of October 2018, N.W.T. will waive fees for name changes for residential school survivors and their families, and all Indigenous residents whose names were affected by “historical errors.” The fees will be waived until October 2023.
In July 2017, the government of the Northwest Territories also changed its Vital Statistics Act to allow the ability to use single names based on traditional culture.
As of July 9, 2019, Nova Scotia is waiving fees to change names on official identity documents for residential school survivors and their families. In Nova Scotia, the cost to change a name is normally $165.70 and $24.95 for each additional family member. The fees will be waived until July 2024.
In June 2022, Quebec and New Brunswick began waiving fees for name changes for residential school survivors and their descendants. New Brunswick will waive fees until 2027, while Quebec will waive fees for 10 years, until 2032.
Meanwhile, the Vital Statistics Council for Canada (an interjurisdictional advisory group, which includes officers from all provincial and territorial Vital Statistics offices) continues to work with the regions to advance this call to action.
In its 2019/20 annual report, Vital Statistics Manitoba noted that “the Vital Statistics Agency continues to be an active participant in Vital Statistics Council for Canada (VSCC) discussions on implementation of recommendation #17,” but as of July 2021, fees have not been waived in Manitoba.