位ug史al蓹s Ksa国际传媒檃lasa国际传媒檃sk Shaw now has his name on his birth certificate.

It only took 13 months of his Campbell River parentssa国际传媒� wrestling with B.C.sa国际传媒檚 Vital Statistics agency and then finally taking them to court to make it happen.

sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檙e super excited and, like, really happy to have received this,sa国际传媒� 位ug史al蓹ssa国际传媒� mother, Crystal Smith, said. sa国际传媒淏ut wesa国际传媒檙e also really wanting to make sure that itsa国际传媒檚 an opportunity for everyone to get sa国际传媒� all Indigenous mothers and adults.sa国际传媒�

位ug史al蓹s was born in Jan. 12, 2022 and Smith and her partner Raymond Shaw went to register him and obtain a birth certificate in February 2022.

Smith and Shaw had planned to give 位ug史al蓹s a traditional name since before he was born. Shaw is Wei Wai Kum (Campbell River), Smith is Tsymsa国际传媒檚yen and Haisla and has been adopted into the Heiltsuk Nation.

They had discussed the possibility of a traditional name with the head of Shawsa国际传媒檚 family. They were particularly interested in a place name from somewhere in the Wei Wai Kum territory. When 位ug史al蓹s was born, they settled on a name of a mountain in Loughborough Inlet that translates to sa国际传媒渢he place where people were blessed.sa国际传媒�

But when they went to register the name using the provincesa国际传媒檚 online registration system, it wouldnsa国际传媒檛 accept the Kwaksa国际传媒檞ala characters in the name. So, they sent in a paper copy of the application but that attempt ran into a technical glitch and so they had to re-do it. During the second attempt they pointed out the correspondence had spelled the name wrong. Smith offered to email the name with the proper lettering but was told by the staff member that they couldnsa国际传媒檛 do that. So, she spelled it all out and the employee wrote that down and said it would take a couple of weeks.

But on March 3, 2022, they received a letter from Registrar General Jack Shewchuk saying the proposed name contravened the Vital Statistics Agencysa国际传媒檚 current naming standards which only recognizes the standard letters in the Latin alphabet, the standard set of French characters (the acute and grave accents, the circumflex, the umlaut and cedilla) and the use of apostrophes, periods and hyphens as long as they are not next to each other or lead to confusion in interpretation.

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The agency offered variations on 位ug史al蓹ssa国际传媒� name that would be acceptable to the system but Smith and Shaw were not willing to compromise, saying at the time, sa国际传媒淵eah, Isa国际传媒檓 done compromising. Indigenous people have been compromising since colonization happened.sa国际传媒�

After more months of Vital Statistics sa国际传媒渄ragging their feet,sa国际传媒� the couple took the agency to court. They filed a petition on Oct. 5, 2022, with the B.C. Supreme Court challenging the agencysa国际传媒檚 refusal on constitutional grounds.

A birth must be registered before the parents may apply for a birth certificate, which is, in turn, required to apply for other important documents like a social insurance number or a passport.

Earlier this year, Vital Statistics contacted the couplesa国际传媒檚 lawyers to negotiate a solution and avoid taking the issue to court. A deal was worked out that gives 位ug史al蓹s a birth certificate with his full and proper name and Vital Statistics gets six months to roll out a system that allows everyone to use traditional names. If they donsa国际传媒檛 do that after six months, the couple can take them back to court.

The couple is happy about their success but Smith emphasizes that this isnsa国际传媒檛 something the agency should be patting themselves on the back about.

sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 something that should have been done long time ago,sa国际传媒� Smith said. sa国际传媒淲e shouldnsa国际传媒檛 have had to fight. We shouldnsa国际传媒檛 have had to wait this long.sa国际传媒�

Itsa国际传媒檚 not even a step in the right direction, she said, theysa国际传媒檙e really just sa国际传媒渢urning to the right direction.sa国际传媒�

And now that 位ug史al蓹s is getting his birth certificate, his family is preparing for the next bureaucratic battle. This time with the federal passport office.

sa国际传媒淪o, once we get our certificate, wesa国际传媒檒l be applying for a passport and wesa国际传媒檙e like 90 per cent sure wesa国际传媒檙e going to get denied,sa国际传媒� Smith said. sa国际传媒淥nce they deny us, wesa国际传媒檒l take them to court as well.sa国际传媒�

In the meantime, they savour this victory and look forward to everybody benefitting from it.

sa国际传媒淏ut theresa国际传媒檚 a lot more work to be done and, yeah, it needs to be for everyone, not just 位ug史al蓹s.sa国际传媒�

editor@campbellrivermirror.com
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