Exploring Theme: "Reclaiming Indigenous Names"

Province permanently waiving fees for death records and applications to reclaim a traditional name NationTalk: TORONTO — The Ontario government is providing financial relief for Indigenous peoples and communities by permanently waiving fees for death records and delayed registration of death for children who attended Indian Residential Schools. The province is also permanently eliminating fees...

NationTalk: The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) announced today that it will waive the change of name fee for Indigenous residents of the NWT on an ongoing basis. Waiving the change of name for residential school survivors and their families advances the GNWT’s commitment to improve the lives of Indigenous residents and help further...

Crystal Smith took fight to recognize λugʷaləs K’ala’ask Shaw’s name to B.C. Supreme Court Anna McKenzie · LJI Reporter · Posted: Mar 30, 2023 1:39 PM EDT | Last Updated: March 30 CBC News: After 13 months of fighting, the parents of λugʷaləs K’ala’ask Shaw have received a birth certificate that accurately represents the spelling of his name. It’s...

The Globe and Mail: The Manitoba government is moving to ensure birth certificates can better represent the names of Indigenous people and those of other cultures. A bill now before the legislature would establish a wider range of letters, characters and symbols beyond the traditional ones found in the English and French languages. The bill...

Chemainus Valley Courier: Emme Abbs, a Grade 12 student in Golden, has inspired Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok to introduce a private member’s bill that would allow Indigenous language characters on birth certificates, adoption papers and pieces of government identification in B.C. Clovechok says a letter that she wrote him is what led him to...

Winnipeg Sun: NDP critic for Indigenous reconciliation Ian Bushie (Keewatinook) introduced Bill 236 on Wednesday at the Manitoba Legislature alongside Carson Robinson and Zaagaate Jock and their baby Atetsenhtsén:we, which is a traditional Mohawk name. “This bill is important for parents across the province who want to pass on traditional names to the next generation,”...

CBC: Province’s Vital Statistics Act restricts what accents and symbols can be used. A Manitoba Indigenous couple named their daughter Atetsenhtsén:we, which translates to “forever healing medicine” in Kanien’kéha, the Mohawk language. They were given the name through ceremony via the birth mother’s traditional longhouse in Akwesasne. According to Robinson, the colon is commonly used in Kanien’kéha orthography and...

Government systems can only print in Roman alphabet with French accents, meaning names with numbers and Indigenous characters and symbols won’t be accommodated. The immigration department said its document-issuance systems can only print Roman alphabet with some French accents, as well as three symbols: apostrophe, hyphen and period. Numbers in names are not part of...

The federal government announced that Indigenous people can now apply to reclaim their traditional names on passports and other government ID. All fees will be waived for the name-changing process. While Call to Action 17 identified passports, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada expanded this initiative to include permanent resident cards, citizenship certificates and other travel documents...

Beginning July 9, name change fees will be waived for residential school survivors and their families who want to reclaim names that were changed by the residential school system. Once the legal change of name is complete, fees to change a name on a driver’s licence and a government issued photo ID will also be...

Fees would be waived for “all Indigenous residents who wish to correct the names on their NWT birth certificates that were affected by historical errors.” Fees for certificates under the Vital Statistics Act can also be waived in the same manner. However, names using Indigenous glyphs and diacritics still cannot be chosen. (NWT Press Release...

For the next five years, the ministry will waive the fees for Indigenous people residing in Ontario who wish to reclaim their traditional names. For those born in Ontario but living elsewhere, we will also waive the fee for one updated birth certificate and one updated certified copy of their birth registration following their name...