Ontario's new birth certificate name change law

[Seana]

As many of you will already be aware,  new regulations in Ontario allow you to change your name and gender on your birth certificate to conform with your percieved gender.

I wanted to discuss, and point out some of the pitfalls of this that some might experience.

first of all YES it's true and Ontario is the first province to do this.  Here's what's needed :

A declaration from you that you identify as that gender
A form/letter from your doctor


Now the bad news.Although it's expected to follow from other provinces, Ontario is the FIRST province to allow this. If you were born elsewhere, you are out of luck.
The other side is that other forms of ID havent caught up with this policy change, and so there are no processes in place where this affects other identification.
For this I'm going to use the experience of one of my partners, a transgirl from Montreal who was born in ontario and her experience with this.

She is in transition and had been transitioning on the job for 2years and 1 year+ on HRT, scheduled for SRS.She changed her birth certtificate. As part ofthe process she has to TURN OVER her old birth certificate to the court.It is then supposed to be destroyed, and she has to swear not to use that old identity for any legal purposes.

All this was well and good until a week or so later.She was let go by the small auto parts firm that she worked at citing who cited economic downturn and laid her off. Then she had to apply for Employment insurance.
She was told there is no process for the name change for thisreason for her SIN card without presenting her original Birth Certificate . The one destroyed by the court that she had to swear not to use for any legal purpose.She cant collect her Employment insurance benefits under the old name, because it's fraud.

This is a pretty significant pitfall, which I thought was worthy of pointing out.

Seana

[FTMDiaries]

Wow. Just wow.

Anyone can be disorganised, but if you want a complete lack of joined-up thinking, you need a government.

Surely there must be something that can be done? Would writing to the Registrar General help?

[Seana]

Agreed . She's telling me this a week or two ago and I was just like WHAT were they thinking. I pretty much advised her to run not walk to nearest NDP MP and see what their view on in, especially after the passing of Toby's law. But it's an important point that just because you CAN change an ID it's important to consider the other aspects that may not comply.


Seana

[eli77]

All you need is your current birth certificate and your name change form to change the info on your SIN card. http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sin/apply/how.shtml

This situation is the result of either the clerk asking for the wrong thing, or your friend misunderstanding what they are asking for. You only have one birth certificate. There is no "original." Once you change your birth certificate, it becomes the original. And no, your friend will not be able to get employment insurance until she changes her SIN card.

Here is probably what happened: The clerk asked for the original birth certificate, meaning not a photo copy, but the actual physical birth certificate. Your friend thought this meant the old one that was destroyed. That wasn't what they meant. They just meant the birth certificate itself.

[Seana]

I wish. That's what I thought too but it turned out not to be the case. I'll have tocheck with herwhat the resolution hasbeen.

Seana

[eli77]

*Shrug* Then she got a particular clerk who didn't know the rules. It happens. To be clear, I was born in Ontario and live in Canada. I've changed my birth certificate and SIN card. It is rather straightforwards (at least compared to like... passports, god I hate passport applications).

Her original birth certificate is the piece of paper they sent her when she had the previous one destroyed. The previous one, destroyed or not, is invalid for any identification purpose.

The feds have been doing this, changing names and gender markers, pre-surgery for a number of years. There is no organizational issue. The ONLY thing that has changed has been at the provincial level. And the feds don't really have to care. Because it makes no difference for them. You still change your SIN card, your Passport, your info with Revenue Canada and Elections Canada exactly the same way you did before the Ontario laws changed.

Edit: If it's still unresolved, and she'd like to talk to me about it, I'd be happy to help. Navigating all the paperwork on this stuff can be kind of a nightmare.

[Seana]

Tell me about it. I live in ontario, but was born in BC.  The personthis happened to is in the same city you are.