Summary

The Vital Statistics Amendment Act, 2025 amends The Vital Statistics Act, 2009 to modify procedures for registering births, deaths, stillbirths, and marriages in Saskatchewan. The bill revises naming requirements to allow single names based on cultural or religious grounds (with prescribed evidence), removes the two-surname limit, permits spelling corrections to names, expands who can complete death statements to include funeral directors, and broadens access to vital statistics records including allowing searches by the registrar on their own initiative and expanding disclosure of medical certificates of death and stillbirth to non-adult children and siblings.

When someone is born, dies, or gets married in Saskatchewan, the information is registered with the Registrar of Vital Statistics, who issues certificates. This bill changes how that system works. The bill allows a child to be registered with a single name (like a mononym) if the parents provide evidence that this reflects their culture or religion. It removes the current rule limiting surnames to a maximum of two components. The bill expands who can complete the statement when someone dies to explicitly include funeral directors. The registrar gains new authority to correct minor spelling errors in names without requiring a formal name change process. The bill broadens who can receive death and stillbirth certificates by removing the word "adult" before "child" and "sibling," so younger children and siblings become eligible. The registrar can now conduct searches of the vital statistics registry on their own initiative to verify whether an event is registered, and the registrar gains discretion to issue certificates to people who need them if the registrar is satisfied the document will not be used for an unlawful or improper purpose. The bill also clarifies that the registrar is an agent of the Crown and that no one may direct the registrar in performing statutory duties, and it allows the registrar to access ministry records of uninsured health services to verify births and stillbirths.