Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted hearings on Bill 13, Change of Name Act, between June 6 and June 15, 2007. Combined with the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight members, the committee split into northern and southern groups seeking input from as many communities as possible within this time frame. Meetings took place in Fort Smith, Hay River, Jean Marie River, Fort Simpson, Yellowknife, Behchoko, Gameti, Tulita, Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik. The clause-by-clause review with the Minister took place on August 13, 2007. The committee would like to thank all participants for their contributions during these meetings, and the Minister of Health and Social Services and his staff for providing this bill.

Bill 13 will replace the existing Change of Name Act. Similar to other Canadian jurisdictions, legal name changes will be possible through an administrative process rather than a court process. People will be able to change their name by applying to the registrar general of vital statistics of the Department of Health and Social Services. The bill includes provisions for which documents are admissible for the determination of the identity of an applicant. Certain identification documents have to be surrendered with an application to reduce the chances of an individual having primary identification in more than one name. Once approved by the registrar, the name will be entered in the change of name register. Notices will be published and certain authorities like the RCMP, the courts and the maintenance enforcement office will be notified. These measures address identity theft and other security concerns.

The bill also gives equal rights to both married and common-law spouses, as defined in section 1 of the Family Law Act, to assume their spouse's name without application under the act. The committee understands that applications involving young children will become more efficient.

During the community hearings, committee heard from more than one person who experienced problems when trying to revert back to their original name after government had caused a name change in the past. For example, John Itsi, a Tsiigehtchic resident, expressed his frustration with the process. "Since I was a child, I have had my name changed four times by the government. Every time I try to get them to change it, different bureaucrats go and check that person and go and check that other person and you get fed up talking with different people. You are phoning all the time and you have to pay to phone. They write you letters and ask for your original birth certificate, which you can't find and they want $250 to change my name. They are the ones who changed my name. They should give me back my original name for nothing."

Section 20 of the proposed bill gives the registrar the discretionary power to waive fees and the committee encourages the government to make it a practice to do so if the government caused the original name change.

Mr. Chair, this concluded the committee's opening comments on Bill 13. Individual members may have questions and comments as we proceed. Thank you.