A Nanaimo woman is fighting to obtain her own birth certificate and social insurance number.
Manon McGinty, who was adopted from Quebec back in the ‘60s, says she’s been denied access to her original birth certificate and is unable obtain a social insurance number or passport because she legally changed her name.
“At the moment my life is somewhat in limbo,” McGinty said. “I don’t know how long that is going to last and I am not getting definitive answers from anyone.”
It all began late last year when she decided to legally change her name from her adopted name, Patricia Lorraine Carter, to her name at birth, which was Manon McGinty, after connecting with her biological siblings.
“One of my siblings found me and we got to know each other,” she said. “I had always said if I found my birth family, I would change my name back.”
McGinty managed to get British Columbia documents such as a driver’s licence and health card without any issue. But when she went to apply for a social insurance number this past July, she received a letter from the federal government instructing her to obtain her original birth certificate from the “issuing authority” and that photocopies were not valid.
“I was shocked,” she said.
That’s when McGinty reached out to Batshaw Youth and Family Centres, a Quebec-based government agency that provides services related to adoption and has her original birth certificate. McGinty said she received a letter from the agency informing her that she was not entitled to her original birth certificate, due to respect for privacy for her birth parents.
As a result of her legal name change and no original birth certificate, McGinty can no longer legally work as she cannot obtain a social insurance number or a passport. The situation is made more complicated by the fact that the federal government does not recognize Quebec birth certificates issued before 1994.
“It has been incredibly infuriating,” McGinty said. “It seems to me that something that should be a lot simpler than it is.”
Although repeated calls to the family centres were not returned, a representative from Services Québec told the News Bulletin that in the event of a name change, an individual must reapply for a new birth certificate, which can be done remotely, and that it is impossible to obtain an original birth certificate from the 1960s because it doesn’t exist.
McGinty said she doesn’t understand why she cannot have access to her original birth certificate, even if she will still have to apply for a new one down the road. She said the entire ordeal has made her frustrated, angry and questioning the fairness and openness of provincial adoption records laws in Canada.
“I am completely frustrated,” she said. “I am 51 years old and I have been paying taxes. Biological privilege allows other Canadian citizens to get their information but I am not allowed to because it is a disconnect between the federal government and the provincial government of Quebec and nobody wants to touch it.”
The experience has also led McGinty to create a Facebook page called Canada Open Records, which campaigns for the restoration of all adult adoptees’ right for unconditional access to their own original full, unaltered birth records. McGinty said there is a bigger issue of access to adoption records and information. She said there are other Canadians across the country who are dealing with similar issues as her and that she won’t quit until she gets her original birth certificate.
“I am willing to wait it out,” she said.