The Vital Statistics Act, 2009

The Vital Statistics Act, 2009 is bilingual legislation and, under the Act, the Vital Statistics Registry is a province-wide system for registering and recording:

• births;
• abandoned newborns;
• stillbirths;
• adoptions;
• deaths;
• marriages;
• changes of sex designation (gender reassignment); and
• changes of name.

The Registry provides certificates as proof of these registrations.

Information Services Corporation (ISC) is the provincial Crown corporation responsible for establishing and managing the Registry.

Anyone who applies in the required form and pays the search fee may have a search made of the registrations and records ("records" are registers or records of baptisms, marriages and burials that may have been filed by a church or other religious organization). A search will not be made if the Director of Vital Statistics is satisfied it will be used for improper or unlawful purposes.

Personal information contained in the Registry is confidential and its collection, access, use and disclosure is only available as authorized by law. The legislation ensures that confidentiality requirements are consistent with current privacy law concerning the rights of access to records and rules for the collection, verification, use and disclosure of personal information.