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Canada Birth Certificates

Your birth certificate must be changed with the Canadian province or territory in which you were born, not where you currently live.

Alberta

Please refer to the Alberta government webpages regarding vital records. Vital Statistics requires statutory declarations signed by two doctors before a notary public, plus a statutory declaration by the applicant signed before a commissioner of oaths or a notary public. Fees to amend a birth certificate are $20. Name change to a gender-appropriate name does not require surgery or the alteration of the legal sex.

British Columbia

Sex on a birth certificate issued in BC can be altered if 1) the sex was recorded in error at the time of birth, or 2) the person has undergone surgery.

You must provide a certificate from the physician who performed your surgery; evidence that the physician is licensed in the jurisdiction where the surgery was performed; and a certificate from a physician licensed to practise in the jurisdiction where you resides, stating that you have had surgery. (The government does not require a specific type of surgery to be performed, but that the physicians certify that the sex has been reassigned according to accepted medical standards.)

Formerly, the applicant had to be unmarried; now that same-sex marriage is legal in British Columbia, this requirement is no longer enforced. The fee to amend the birth certificate is $27; if a new certificate is to be issued, there is a fee of $27 for that service as well.

You may change your name to one appropriate to their gender of identification without undergoing surgery or changing your legal sex assignment.

See the BC Vital Statistics Agency for more information.

Manitoba

In order for a person’s legal gender to be reassigned, an application is required accompanied by two medical certificates: one from a doctor who performed sex reassignment surgery, and a second from a doctor who assisted at the surgery. Both certificates must attest that the sex of the applicant was changed through the surgery. There is a $25.00 fee to amend the record, and $25.00 for each new birth certificate requested.

Application forms may be requested from the Vital Statistics Agency.

Names may be changed using the normal procedure, and do not require legal gender reassignment in order to proceed.

New Brunswick

Contact the Vital Statistics division of the NB government.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Contact the Vital Statistics division of the NL government.

Northwest Territories

Contact the Health Services Administration division of the NWT government.

Nova Scotia

The following information is current as of March 2002:

“I live in New Brunswick, Canada. I was born in Nova Scotia, Canada.

First I had to visit the Vital Statistics New Brunswick office on-line to change my name. They have all the info and you can order the ‘kit’ on-line. I was asked to provide a letter from a therapist as to verify the nature of my request. I also had to provide an original ‘long-form’ birth certificate, because I was born out of province. I ordered that online from this site.

It cost $25 and was delivered promptly. After all that, and $100 later to PNB, I got my ‘Change of Name’ certificate.”

Go to the PNS (Province of Nova Scotia) website. In order to change name and sex, you will need to supply your legal Change of Name certificate, a surgeon’s letter, and a letter from another physician who has examined you post-op.

Nunavut

See the Nunavut government website. If you were born prior to 1999, you were technically born in the Northwest Territories and your birth certificate will reflect that. Contact the Health Services Administration division of the NWT government.

Ontario

As of 2012, surgery is no longer required to change the sex on your Ontario birth certificate. See ServiceOntario for more information about the revised process.

Ontario will issue an amended certificate, changing either name or sex, and the certificate will not reveal which items were changed. The change of the sex designation on the birth registry is a separate process from the change of name. A copy of the long form of the certificate will list the original name and sex, along with the new name and new sex, plus annotations describing the changes made.

Change of Name: Contact the Registrar General’s office and request an “Application to change an adult’s name”. You will need original copy of your birth certificate, a signature of a guarantor, and a signature of a commissioner. Present cost is $137.

Change of Sex Designation: Contact the Registrar General’s office and request an “Application for Change of Sex Designation on Birth Registry” package. The cost to have the change performed is $37. Cost of the short form (certificate) is $15 while the cost of the long form is $22.

Office of the Registrar General
PO Box 4600
189 Red River Road
Thunder Bay ON P7B 6L8
1800 461 2156 or 1416 325 8305

Prince Edward Island

See the PEI Vital Statistics website.

Québec

In order for a person’s legal gender to be reassigned, the person must be of age, unmarried, and a Canadian citizen, and have resided in Québec for at least a year. Sex reassignment surgery must be completed. A form from the Directeur de l’état civil must be submitted along with:

  • a medical certificate from the physician who performed the surgery;
  • a medical certificate from a physician licensed in Quebec, attesting that the surgery was successful;
  • a declaration and oath from the applicant.

Fees are $125 for amending the record, and $10 for extra copies of the certificate of gender reassignment. The fee is not refundable if the request is refused.

Formerly, a change of name to one of the opposite gender required a legal gender reassignment. This was successfully challenged in court and now a person can change their name to one of the other gender by the normal name change procedure, without needing a gender reassignment.

See the provincial government site.

Saskatchewan

The relevant legislation is the Saskatchewan Vital Statistics Act. It requires a medical certificate of completed surgery from a physician licensed in the jurisdiction where the surgery took place (or, if this cannot be obtained, other documentation as required by the director of Vital Statistics); a certificate signed by a second licensed physician attesting that the person was examined and found to be of the target sex; and “any other evidence the director may require”. With this, the sex on a birth certificate issued in Saskatchewan may be altered. The fee is $20. See Saskatchewan Health — Vital Statistics.

A person may change their name to one appropriate to their gender of identification without undergoing sugery or changing their legal sex assignment.

Yukon

See the Vital Statistics division of the Yukon government’s website.

Proof of identity is required, along with letters from two doctors attesting that the applicant’s anatomical sex has been changed. There is no fee to alter the birth record, but the old birth certificate must be surrendered and a new one ordered.

A person may change their name to one appropriate to their gender of identification without undergoing surgery or changing their legal sex assignment.