位ug史al蓹s K乌鸦传媒檃la乌鸦传媒檃sk Shaw now has his name on his birth certificate.

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

乌鸦传媒淲e乌鸦传媒檙e super excited and, like, really happy to have received this,乌鸦传媒� 位ug史al蓹s乌鸦传媒� mother, Crystal Smith, said. 乌鸦传媒淏ut we乌鸦传媒檙e also really wanting to make sure that it乌鸦传媒檚 an opportunity for everyone to get 乌鸦传媒� all Indigenous mothers and adults.乌鸦传媒�

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 Tsym乌鸦传媒檚yen and Haisla and has been adopted into the Heiltsuk Nation.

They had discussed the possibility of a traditional name with the head of Shaw乌鸦传媒檚 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 乌鸦传媒渢he place where people were blessed.乌鸦传媒�

But when they went to register the name using the province乌鸦传媒檚 online registration system, it wouldn乌鸦传媒檛 accept the Kwak乌鸦传媒檞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 couldn乌鸦传媒檛 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 Agency乌鸦传媒檚 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s乌鸦传媒� name that would be acceptable to the system but Smith and Shaw were not willing to compromise, saying at the time, 乌鸦传媒淵eah, I乌鸦传媒檓 done compromising. Indigenous people have been compromising since colonization happened.乌鸦传媒�

After more months of Vital Statistics 乌鸦传媒渄ragging their feet,乌鸦传媒� the couple took the agency to court. They filed a petition on Oct. 5, 2022, with the B.C. Supreme Court challenging the agency乌鸦传媒檚 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 couple乌鸦传媒檚 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 don乌鸦传媒檛 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 isn乌鸦传媒檛 something the agency should be patting themselves on the back about.

乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 something that should have been done long time ago,乌鸦传媒� Smith said. 乌鸦传媒淲e shouldn乌鸦传媒檛 have had to fight. We shouldn乌鸦传媒檛 have had to wait this long.乌鸦传媒�

It乌鸦传媒檚 not even a step in the right direction, she said, they乌鸦传媒檙e really just 乌鸦传媒渢urning to the right direction.乌鸦传媒�

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.

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

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

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

editor@campbellrivermirror.com
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