Mr. Speaker, I move, second by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics Act, be read for the second time.
The proposed amendments to the Vital Statistics Act will improve servicing relating to birth registrations and certificates. The amended Act will reflect notions about gender and family structure that have changed since the Vital Statistics Act was last significantly amended in 2017. Amendments would allow 16 to 18-year-olds to change their gender on their birth certificate or allow for individuals to request removing the sex designation on their birth certificate and provide that up to four parents can be named on a birth registration.
The bill also establishes a new certificate for change of gender for persons not born in the Northwest Territories who are unable to change their gender in the jurisdictions where their birth was registered.
Amendments would also clarify the requirements for registration of home births and update the requirements relating to the completion of medical certificates of death.
The bill makes other changes to the Act that are procedural in nature.
The bill also amends the Change of Name Act to allow 16 to 18-year-olds to change their name and provide discretion to the registrar general and vital statistics to decline to publish a notice of change of name if the reason of the name relates to being transgender, nonbinary, gender diverse, 2-spirit Indigenous. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.