Canada

Gender + religious + ethnic discrimination

In Canada, Indigenous people have struggled to have their names legally recognized on birth certificates and other official documents. During the “Sixties Scoop,” Indigenous children were taken from their parents, adopted by non-Indigenous families in the U.S. and Canada, and had their names forcibly changed to anglicized names on official documents to erase their Indigenous identities. As part of a broader process of Truth and Reconciliation, Indigenous peoples have been reclaiming the cultural right to Indigenous naming practices as part of their self-determination. In 2022, a civil society report to the CRC stated that Indigenous parents were unable to register children’s births using Indigenous language names that use different symbols than the Latin-script alphabet. Children’s names have been altered without parental consent during registration. In 2022 the CRC urged Canada to restore names on birth certificates where they have been illegally altered or removed.

Promising Practices

As of 2022, Indigenous peoples in Canada can now reclaim their Indigenous names, as written on passports and other immigration documents. Multiple provinces provide free birth certificate replacements to survivors of the Sixties Scoop and their descendants. Some provinces are working to create systems for Indigenous names with non-Latin script to be registered, but the transition is moving slowly.