Process to reclaim Indigenous names on ID challenging; B.C. First Nations leaders unaware of option

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — An expert says Indigenous people who want to reclaim their traditional names on government documents face an onerous process, while Indigenous leaders in B.C. say they were unaware the option even existed.

Indigenous people who were stripped of their names changed in residential schools or other federal policies are now able to legally reclaim their traditional names on federal documents. All fees that would normally be associated with a name change have been waived. The change was announced June 14, and responds to one of the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“We call upon all levels of government to enable residential school Survivors and their families to reclaim names changed by the residential school system by waiving administrative costs for a period of five years for the name-change process and the revision of official identity documents, such as birth certificates, passports, driver’s licenses, health cards, status cards, and social insurance numbers,” that call to action reads.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said the federal government will work with the provinces and territories so similar changes can be made on documents like health cards, driver’s licenses, and birth certificates. Miller also said the process is meant to be “seamless” and to “cut out all the red tape.”

RELATED: Indigenous people can now reclaim traditional names on their passports and other ID

But Burnaby lawyer Will Tao says the application process is as challenging as an immigration application, with a number of “incidental” costs above and beyond the standard fees.

As I was navigating it, the first thing that came to my mind was this is actually very bureaucratic, paper-heavy process,” he explains.

“These are things that clients actually engage us — oftentimes paying a decent amount of money to do — because of how intensive this can be. Added to that, I was thinking about the clients that would possibly utilize this — the type of location challenges, the access to justice issues that they might have finding a lawyer in various communities. Notarization costs money, photocopying costs, money printing costs money. These are not insignificant funds and difficult things to do in these pandemic times.”

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT: @HeronLFMC will assist free of charge @CitImmCanada new process for Indigenous clients to reclaim their Indigenous name on their Canadian citizenship certificate or permanent resident card. Please email info@heronlaw.ca. #cdnimmhttps://t.co/7cLqJiJdc3 pic.twitter.com/brfTeugBlS

— Wei William (Will) Tao|陶维 (@TheWillTruth) June 16, 2021

That’s why he is offering his firm’s services pro bono so people can undertake the entire process without it costing them a dime.

“I thought one important step I could play, especially in this current time it’s to offer my firm and offer the services that we can provide to help,” he says.

“All these steps are in there are very complicated … The application is itself very form-intensive and difficult. I figured that there’s any way that we can help — given we do this for a living — we should do it.”

Tao says he thinks — even though it comes six years after the conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission — the federal government may have rushed the announcement.

“Part of it is also in the rollout. Maybe, timing-wise, a lot of government institutions are now — with the recent and ongoing discoveries of Indigenous children’s remains — they’re trying to sort of show that they are in the process of implementing the [Calls to Action] even though it’s many, many years later.”

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Another big logistical issue is, according to Tao, the fact that names can only have letters from the Roman or French alphabets, meaning names can not be written in Indigenous languages.

“How are individuals who actually want their name reflected going to get their name change?” he asks.

“The instructions online now that the government provided are you need to engage in official translator. I think it kind of undermines the whole purpose of name reclamation when you need translation, it suggests that your actual name doesn’t fit the system.”

Other issues Tao says he is considering when it comes to training his staff to help people navigate this process is how to approach it in a trauma-informed way, and how to do outreach so the people who want to access this option get connected to his team.

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‘Another example of decisions being made about us without us’

Cheryl Casimer is a citizen of the Ktunaxa Nation, and an executive with the First Nations Summit. She says the problems Tao has identified make it clear that this move by the feds wasn’t done in consultation with First Nations. She didn’t know it was even in the works until she saw the news stories on social media.

“I think it’s another example of decisions being made about us without us,” she says. “If they fully engaged and consulted with Indigenous peoples from the outset, these are the types of things that would have been raised

“I’m not saying though that people don’t want to see that happen. I think a lot of people want to be able to have their traditional names posted on their identification and whatnot. But, if the process is cumbersome and it’s expensive, then not a lot of people are going to be in a position to utilize it.”

The prospect of getting translators is something Casimer says is particularly problematic, noting there are dozens of languages and very few people who are fluent.

“My language, as an example, it’s an isolate, meaning it’s the only kind of only language of its kind in the world. And so it’s very unique. They can’t expect to pick a translator that’s going to be responsible for covering all or even a number of languages. The person needs to be specific to that language,” she says, adding unique alphabets and some languages being transmitted orally and not in writing at all further complicate matters.

Several B.C. First Nations leaders unaware of program

Marilyn Baptiste with the Chilcotin First Nation says government needs to do better. She was also unaware of the name change program until being contacted by NEWS 1130 for this story. She says a lack of publicity and outreach suggests not enough resources have been put into the program.

“They have the obligation to put forward the resources so we can carry out this very important work,” she says.

Marilyn Slett, chief councillor of the Heiltsuk Tribal Council, says she wasn’t aware of the federal initiative until being asked for an interview.

“The whole concept of our people reclaiming our names as our part of our identity is not new. People have definitely been doing that,” she says, adding if the feds want to help epople reclaim their names on ID documents they should be doing more to help make that happen.

“Let people know and work with the communities on developing a process that people can navigate and be supported as they’re going through it,” she says.

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Federal Citizenship and Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino says the program is an important part of reconciliation, and he is optimistic people are informed and the program is accessible.

“We have already, I think, made public announcements about it, we did a press conference with the national press gallery, our hope is that those stories are getting across the country,” he says.

“We’ve got a website that lays out what the process is, members of the profession are starting to get more information about it. But that’s why we’re doing this story, I guess, is to make sure that the word gets out.”

With files from Cormac MacSweeney and The Canadian Press