Should Canada have a Canadian Birth Certificate?
Canada does not have a Canadian birth certificate. Each province and territory is expected to maintain its own
database and maintain it, typically with the support of municipal governments. The hospital records the birth
of a new child and sends the information along to a either the municipal government as in Ontario or a
provincial Registrar as in Quebec. It is a system not easily comprehended by citizens. Having the Federal
government in charge of birth certificates would be more rational.
Each province or territory issuing their own birth certificate implies that Canada as a whole does not exist as a
federal entity. Each province being in charge of issuing birth certificates reinforces the regionalism of Canada
and does not foster national unity.
It is through historical circumstances that Canada does not have a nation birth certificate policy. Births were
typically registered with local parishes serving small municipalities. That is why in Ontario the municipal
government still acts as an intermediary between a new born child and the provincial government. It is only
recently that in Quebec the role of the church as record keeper of important events such as births, deaths, and
marriage has been usurped by the provincial government. The new measures were announced on October
24, 2001, by Joseph Facal, a Quebec Minister, and they make void all birth certificates issued before 1994 in
the province, all birth certificates must now be handled by the Registrar of Civil Status. Moving birth certificate
administration to the provincial level is good but Canada should ultimately make the federal government
responsible for the handling of birth certificates.
A birth certificates is one of the most important documents issued by a country. The certificate establishes
that the bearer holds all the rights of that country such as voting and access to service provided by the county.
Birth certificates are taken seriously by nations. Even if one was born to Canadian military personnel while
they were serving in another country, that person would have to obtain a birth certificate from the country that the
birth occurred in. At most they would be able to get a Registration of Birth Abroad document and not a
Canadian birth certificate. Most other documents do not establish identity, even a passport is only a travel
document and does not qualify as proof of citizenship.
Because Canada does not have a compulsory national identity card and the birth certificate is issued
provincially other forms of documentation have inappropriately been substituted for the role of establishing
identity. The federal government introduced the nine-digit SIN cards in 1964 to provide file numbers for the
Canada Pension Plan. SIN numbers have spread in use making them almost like a national identity card.
However Social Insurance Numbers do not have quality safe guards to insure privacy and prevent fraud. There
is also the Canadian Certificate of Identity which is issued to permanent residents of Canada who are unable
or unwilling to obtain a passport from their country of nationality, because dealing with their home country is
problematic.
Having a consolidated Canadian birth certificate would save the tax payers of Canada money. Currently each
province (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia,
Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Yukon) has its
own system. That is a total of thirteen different governments providing the same service.
Having one Canadian birth certificate would also help Canada's international standing. By avoiding domestic
issues of regionalism Canada can present a unified front to the world. Each time the document is requested
outside of Canada by officials in another country Canada's presence in the world would increase, not diminish
because of confusion with jurisdictional issues of documentation.
