Looking in Ontario has been advocating for records rights for 2 decades. We work in collaboration with other advocacy groups. We advocate at the UN.
Looking in Ontario also supports Bill 87, Extend Access to Post Adoption Birth Information (Vital Statistics Amendment Act, 2023, Ontario) so that descendants of deceased adoptees may be able to see their ancestry, and help siblings reunite when the original parents are dead.
At the moment, Bill 87 is sitting in the Ontario Legislative Assembly, having passed First Reading. As it is a Private Members Bill, it may have difficulty getting passed into law.
https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-43/session-1/bill-87
Here are some examples of our work, dating from 2012 to our most recent endeavours at the UN in Geneva in 2023.
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child – Review of Canada 2012
The UN has asked the Ontario government and the Federal government at least 3 times to restore the unwed fathers that were illegally removed from the original birth registrations of adoptees.
Here is the report from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child from 2012. UNICEF Canada was present at the proceedings on our behalf.
Our recommendation is on page 8.
D. Civil rights and freedoms (arts. 7, 8, 13-17, 19 and 37 (a) of the Convention)
Birth registration
38. While the Committee notes as positive that birth registration is almost universal in the State party, it is seriously concerned that some children have been deprived of their identity due to the illegal removal of the father’s name on original birth certificates by governmental authorities, especially in cases of unwed parents.
39. The Committee recommends that the State party review legislation and practices in the provinces and territories where birth registrations have been illegally altered or the names of parents have been removed. The Committee urges the State party to ensure that the names on such birth certificates are restored and change legislation if necessary to achieve this.https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/concluding-observations/crcccanco3-4-concluding-observations-combined-third-and-fourth
Submission made to the the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that led to the above recommendation.
Looking in Ontario Statement to EMRIP – 2013
UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous People – Sixth Session
Held in Geneva from 8th to 12th July 2013
Intervention Statement by Cathy Henderson, Founder of the “Looking in Ontario” Group (this was backed by the Chairperson of EMRIP, Chief Littlechild, former commissioner for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, who ensured that we were able to speak at the UN)
Subject: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Thank you Mr. Chair and Assembled People,
I would like to make a statement on Article 8 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Many Indigenous People have been forcefully removed from their families and adopted out to non-Indigenous families.
Our group has found that the records of Indigenous adoptees have been profoundly altered.
Some Indigenous adoptees have been told that they are not Indigenous.
Details such as date and place of birth have been changed.
This false paper trail makes it difficult to reunite people with their families.
This also affects Indigenous rights.
In light of this, Article 8 should be expanded to include the following:
- That information should be protected from deletion;
- That errors on records should be corrected;
- That missing information should be restored;
- That records should be preserved;
- That there should be no time limit to make these necessary amendments;
And any other administrative and legislative changes made as required to preserve identity.
Changes should be allowed to be made retro-actively.
Adoption must not be used as an excuse to bar any person from their own Indigenous information and family history or their Indigenous rights.
As a measure against the erosion of ethnic identity, the records of Indigenous people must be protected and made accessible to those they pertain to.
Article 8 should include these record protections in order to help safeguard the future of Indigenous communities and their ethnic identities.
Thank you for listening.
UN Human Rights Council – 2013
Uruguay put forward our recommendation to the UN Human Rights Council.
Cycle 2 (2012 – 2016) Session 16 -2013 – State under Review – Canada
Recommendation
Revise its legislation and administrative practices to correct the amendment of birth certificates in which the name of the father is removed as a consequence of births out of wedlock
Recommending State – Uruguay
Action Category 3 – Considering action
Response – Noted
Issues – Rights of the Child
DOCIP (Documentation Centre for Indigenous Peoples) – 2014
Page 18
“In the context of indigenous child removal policies, LIO (Looking in Ontario) urge that historical information be protected from being deleted, that manipulated records be corrected and that there be no time limit to make these corrections, in order to allow survivors and their families to find each other.”
Evidence for Class Action – 60’s Scoop in Canada – 2017
Looking in Ontario provided evidence for the 60’s Scoop lawsuit.
The judge described actions against Indigenous people (such as removing father’s names from original birth registrations) as “causing great harm” by removing elements of identity which many regard as “Cultural Genocide”. The judge ruled in favour of the 60’s Scoop survivors. The Canadian Federal government was forced to pay compensation.
There has been no apology from the Federal government.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41488960
Judge’s Ruling in full for the 60’s Scoop Lawsuit
Judge rules in favour of Indigenous survivors of Sixties Scoop | CBC News
UN – Pre-session for the UPR (Universal Periodic Review) of Canada – 2023
Looking in Ontario met with diplomats from Canada as well as other countries and put forward a number of recommendations to be presented by member states (countries) at the UN Human Rights Council. One of our recommendations went through – a request for a Federal Commissioner to over see the enforcement of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This would include enforcing Article 8 of the convention right across Canada in all provinces and territories.
After our communication with Greece, Greece put forward the recommendation asking Canada to strengthen measures aimed at avoiding the removal of children and asking Canada to preserve children’s identities.
Here are our factsheets that were given out at the UN in Geneva.
The first one from Looking in Ontario dealt with missing information on adoptee birth registrations including missing father’s names and recommending a Federal Commissioner.
The second one was a collaboration with other NGOS’ (Non-Governmental Organisations). This was information about the 60’s Scoop and the Baby Scoop. It is estimated that 300,000-350,000 babies were taken by forced adoption across Canada. Many of the records for both scoops were vandalised or destroyed. Many of them have the father’s name missing from birth registrations due to the illegal actions of government and their agencies.
(Note – although Inuit were included in the 60’s Scoop lawsuit, almost 2 years on after people could apply, over 80 percent of Inuit claims had not been processed – many of the personal records needed for evidence had been destroyed by the government, causing problems. We do not have updated figures for that).
Our factsheets can also be found at the UPR Info site under “Pre-session Statement in the “Civil Society Materials” section.
https://www.upr-info.org/en/review/canada
Communication with the Ontario Provincial Government – 2024
UPDATE – January 24 2024 – we have received a response in Messenger from the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs (of Ontario) Facebook page who says “we have shared your suggestions with the appropriate divisions within the Ministry.” At least it was a positive human response. Now they need to take action.
We have also been writing to the Ontario government, with the most recent correspondence sent to them in August and November 2023 – there has been no acknowledgement from them for our latest communications.
Before Covid pre-2019, the Ontario Provincial government said they would look into it but nothing has happened since.
Both the Registrar General of Ontario and the Ontario Ombudsman said that the law needs to be changed. Their advice has been ignored by the Ontario Provincial government.
The Ontario government has also ignored the requests from the UN who have asked them 3 times to change the law.
One can only assume that the Ontario government simply does not care about basic human rights or international treaties.
Links to our web site pages
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