[This needs to be universal, and in America, too... Editor]Manitoba bill would help ensure birth certificates reflect Indigenous names
By The Canadian Press | Nov. 17, 2022
WINNIPEG
- 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 would also allow for single names, instead of first and last ones, in accordance with cultural practices.
Government
Services Minister Reg Helwer says the change will meet the needs of
residential school and ’60s Scoop survivors who want to reclaim their
birth names.
He says it will also serve Indigenous and other families who give their children traditional names connected to their culture.
The proposed changes would apply to name registrations for newborns and for people applying to legally change their names.
“Throughout
the residential school period, it was common for institutions to rename
children when they were enrolled, erasing traditional Indigenous names
to cut the ties a child had with their cultural identity and family,”
Indigenous Reconciliation Minister Alan Lagimodiere said in a press
release Thursday.
“The
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called upon governments
to enable survivors to reclaim their birth names. This change would
allow us to take the first step toward implementing call to action
Number 17.“
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2022.
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Recognizing that Indigenous parents should have a right to name their
children according to the languages their ancestors carried for
millennia means treating them like human beings.
Reconciliation is more than that. - READ
Photo: Katherine Strongwind
