Ontario Making it Easier and More Affordable for Indigenous Communities to Access Vital Government Services

Province permanently waiving fees for death records and applications to reclaim a traditional name

TORONTO — The Ontario government is providing financial relief for Indigenous peoples and communities by permanently waiving fees for death records and delayed registration of death for children who attended Indian Residential Schools. The province is also permanently eliminating fees for reclaiming a traditional Indigenous name.

Ontario is providing a streamlined process to reduce the burden for Indigenous communities, organizations, and family members trying to locate death records for children who attended Indian Residential Schools in Ontario. There is now a one-window process that eliminates the need to request death searches from two offices — the Archives of Ontario and ServiceOntario’s Office of the Registrar General.

As part of this process, fees are being permanently waived for death registration searches, death certificates, and certified copies of death registrations. Fees are also being waived to register a delayed registration of death for children who attended Indian Residential Schools. These permanent fee waivers provide ongoing financial relief for impacted Indigenous communities and families during an already difficult time.

Fees are also being permanently waived for Indian Residential School survivors and their families to reclaim a traditional name through a change of name, and Indigenous peoples seeking to change their name to a single name if it is in accordance with their traditional culture.

These changes build on recent initiatives that provide easier access to government services in remote and Indigenous communities, including the North Shore Tribal Council Indigenous-led ServiceOntario centre that also operates a mobile service unit within the Robinson-Huron Treaty area, the Pickle Lake municipal-led ServiceOntario centre, and the virtual service for health card renewal available at Ontario.ca/VirtualAppointment.