Nunavut unveils new birth certificate design

Nunavut’s health minister unveils the territory’s new birth certificate June 5 in Iqaluit at the Nunavut legislature. (PHOTO BY SAMANTHA DAWSON)

Behold, Nunavut’s new birth certificate, designed to protect against identify theft and tampering, with its clear window and polymer paper similar to other certificates across the country.

Keith Peterson, Nunavut’s minister responsible for health and social services, unveiled the territory’s new polymer birth certificate June 5 in the lobby of the legislative assembly building.

“The new birth certificate is standard across Canada, but also includes some Nunavut specific features including our coat of arms, Inuit languages and the territorial seal,” he said.

New parents can obtain the new birth certificate through the Department of Health and Social Services for a fee of $10, although the older Nunavut birth certificates remain valid.

But some Nunavummiut have difficulty in obtaining a birth certificate, Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley said June 5 in the legislature.

For most Nunavummiut, when their child is born out of province, they come home within a few days, Curley said, noting that people can be “very unfamiliar with applying for a birth certificate.”

Peterson responded that there is always room for improvement and that wherever a child is born, is where parents should be applying to for a birth certificate, because of future ease with passports, identification and travel.

“It’s absolutely important that parents register their babies,” Peterson said.