BILL NO. 82
(as introduced)
2nd Session, 62nd General Assembly
Nova Scotia
64 Elizabeth II, 2015
Change of Name Act (amended)
and
Vital Statistics Act (amended)
The Honourable Mark Furey
Minister of Service Nova Scotia
First Reading: April 8, 2015
Second Reading: April 9, 2015
Third Reading: April 28, 2015 (LINK TO BILL AS PASSED)
Explanatory Notes
Clauses 1 and 2 lower the age at which parental consent is no longer required for a change of name from 19 years to 16 years.
Clause 3
(a) eliminates the requirement for sex-reassignment surgery to change the sex shown on a person's birth registration, and replaces it with a requirement that a person provide written statements from the person and from a member of a profession prescribed by the regulations;
(b) requires that a person under the age of 16 years have parental consent for a change in the sex shown on the person's birth registration and that the written statement from a member of a profession prescribed by the regulations be from a professional who has treated or evaluated the person;
(c) provides for the updating, following a change to the sex shown on a person's birth registration, of marriage and domestic partnership registrations of the person and birth registrations of any child of the person;
(d) sets out provisions respecting the issuance of birth, marriage and domestic-partnership certificates following the change of the sex shown on an applicant's birth registration; and
(e) provides a means for the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to dispense with the consent of a parent when an application is made by a person under the age of 16 years if it is in the interest of the applicant to do so.
Clause 4 adds regulation-making powers.
Clause 5 corrects an error.
Clause 6 provides that this Act comes into force on proclamation.
An Act to Amend Chapter 66
of the Revised Statutes, 1989,
the Change of Name Act, and
Chapter 494 of the Revised Statutes, 1989,
the Vital Statistics Act
Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:
1 Clause 2(d) of Chapter 66 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Change of Name Act, is amended by striking out "majority" in the second line and substituting "sixteen years".
2 (1) Subsection 3(1) of Chapter 66 is amended by striking out "of the age of majority who" in the second line and substituting "who is sixteen years of age or older and".
(2) Subsection 3(2) of Chapter 66 is amended by
(a) striking out "not of the age of majority" in the second line and substituting "under sixteen years of age"; and
(b) striking out "of the age of majority" in the last line and substituting "sixteen years of age or older".
3 Section 25 of Chapter 494 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Vital Statistics Act, is repealed and the following heading and Sections substituted:
(a) an application in the form approved by the Registrar;
(b) a written statement by the applicant that the applicant has assumed, identifies with and intends to maintain the gender identity that corresponds with the change requested; and
(c) a written statement from a person who is a member of a prescribed profession and practises the profession
(ii) where the applicant is habitually resident outside the Province, in or outside the Province,
(2) A person under the age of sixteen years and whose birth is registered in the Province may apply to the Registrar to change the sex shown on the person's birth registration by providing to the Registrar
(a) an application in the form approved by the Registrar;
(b) a written statement by the applicant that the applicant has assumed, identifies with and intends to maintain the gender identity that corresponds with the change requested;
(c) a written statement from a person who is a member of a prescribed profession and practises the profession
(ii) where the applicant is habitually resident outside the Province, in or outside the Province,
(iv) the applicant has the capacity to make an informed decision about whether to make an application under this subsection; and
(3) Where an application is made under subsection (1) or (2), the Registrar shall, upon payment of the prescribed fee, cause a notation of the change to be made on the birth registration if the Registrar is satisfied that
(a) the requirements of subsection (1) or (2), as the case may be, have been satisfied; and
(b) the application was made in good faith.
(4) Where a notation has been made under subsection (3) on the birth registration of a person, the Registrar shall cause a notation of the change to be made on any registration in the Registrar's office pertaining to the person.
(5) Where a person's birth is registered under the laws of another jurisdiction and the sex shown on the person's birth registration is changed under those laws, the Registrar, on production to the Registrar of proof of the change and evidence satisfactory to the Registrar as to the identity of the person, shall cause a notation of the change to be made on any registration in the Registrar's office pertaining to the person.
(6) Every birth, marriage or domestic partnership certificate issued after the making of a notation under subsection (3) shall be issued as if the registration had been made of the sex as changed.
(7) Where a judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia is satisfied that a person whose consent is required under clause (d) of subsection (2)
(c) is missing or cannot be found;
(d) has deserted or neglected to provide proper care and maintenance for the applicant; or
(e) is a person whose consent in all the circumstances of the case ought to be dispensed with,
the judge may order that the person's consent be dispensed with, if it is in the interest of the applicant to do so.
4 Subsection 51(1) of Chapter 494, as amended by Chapter 8 of the Acts of 1998, Chapter 29 of the Acts of 2000, Chapters 5 and 45 of the Acts of 2001, Chapter 15 of the Acts of 2006 and Chapter 48 of the Acts of 2011, is further amended by adding immediately after clause (fb) the following clauses:
(fd) prescribing professions whose members may provide a written statement for the purpose of clause (c) of subsection (1) of Section 25;
(fe) prescribing professions whose members may provide a written statement for the purpose of clause (c) of subsection (2) of Section 25;
5 Subsection 54(1) of Chapter 494, as enacted by Chapter 29 of the Acts of 2000 and amended by Chapter 5 of the Acts of 2001, is further amended by striking out "domestic partner" in the last line and substituting "domestic-partner".
6 This Act comes into force on such day as the Governor in Council orders and declares by proclamation.
This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 2015 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Created May 8, 2015. Send comments to legc.office@novascotia.ca.
