Question period at Province House on Tuesday saw concerns raised about the long and difficult process for female couples to receive parental recognition on birth certificates.
“In so many areas of the law, particularly in the administrative areas, we still act like it’s the 1950s when it’s 2023,” Nova Scotia NDP Leader Claudia Chender told media.
The conversation was started by Clayton Park West MLA Rafah DiCostanzo after hearing from two of her constituents who were being questioned on how their child was conceived.
“They were not allowed to have two names, their two names, on the birth certificate,” DiCostanzo told the room of policy makers. “To my shock, I actually found out that the government actually spends time and resources calling the parents to find out how they conceived their child.”
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DiCostanzo says she has now heard of many female couples in Nova Scotia going through similar birth certificate struggles, one of which Global News reported on last October.
Service Nova Scotia Minister Colton LeBlanc replied at the legislature that a package of proposed amendments to modernize the birth registration process is in the works, with consultations happening.
“We’re certainly taking all that information into consideration and experiences that Nova Scotians are living first-hand,” LeBlanc said, “… of how we modernize this act and modernize the needs of Nova Scotians in our growing diverse population.”
DiCostanzo says these difficulties during the birth registration process don’t happen to two male parents, the discriminations being exclusive to lesbian couples.
“We will be working on this,” she said. “This is wrong and unfair on two females who have had a child and they’re married, legally married, in Nova Scotia.”
Chender told media she was unaware that this was happening in the province, but does not believe a long review is necessary to move forward with change.
“Everyone ought to understand if they don’t already, including our government, that families come in all shapes and sizes,” she said. “We’re already behind the times in acknowledging that.”
DiCostanzo said she could not believe that this was happening in Nova Scotia, and is working on bringing forward a bill in the fall.
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