Greetings All. Those having genealogical interests in British Columbia should be aware of a Bill that the BC Legislature has pushed through with great haste. So far as I am aware, no genealogical or historical societies had been approached for input to Bill 43 -- VITAL STATISTICS AMENDMENT ACT, 2004 Introduction and first reading of this Bill took place 10 May, second reading on 12 May, and discussion during Committee of the Whole and third reading took place yesterday, 17 May 2004. As I write this, debate during Committee of the Whole and third reading of the Bill are not yet available in the Provincial Hansard. Bill 43 increases the restrictions on who may access Vital Statistics records of Birth, Marriage and Death. Even parents of a child who is over 19 years of age cannot obtain a birth certificate for that child. It is very restrictive regarding who may obtain certified certificates of Birth, Marriage and Death, and distinguishes between these and 'registrations' of same. It specifies in the legislation time frames before such 'registrations' might be accessible by the public. In most cases those seeking information on ancestors would be more interested in the registrations of BMDs than in obtaining certified documents for them. The current Vital Statistics Act of BC does not codify time frames, nor does the Regulations for the Vital Statistics Act. Through the BC Archives, registrations of Birth have been available after 100 years, Marriages after 75 years, and Deaths after 20 years. Bill 43 codifies the time frames for access to registrations of Birth to 20 years after death or 120 years after Birth -- an extension of twenty years over what has been allowed up to now. For registrations of Marriage the period remains as 75 years after the event, but adds the provision that both parties must be deceased for more than 20 years. Access to registrations of Death remains at after 20 years. We should all be concerned not only about the speed with which the BC government has pushed this Bill through, without known consulation with the genealogical and historical communities affected, but with the extended time frames and restrictions as to whom might access these records. This affects our access not only to records of the future, but to those records we have been able to access up to today. Clauses in Bill 43 may prevent access to records from other than the government who charges exhorbitant fees for them. Currently the 'registration' documents for BMDs are available through microfilm purchased from the government by various agencies such as libraries, archives and universites. Through these agencies photocopies of these documents are available for as little as fifteen to fourty cents per page. Up to this time, British Columbia has been a leader (in my opinion) not only regarding the time frames in which BMD information has been available, but for the fact that the indexes for these records have been available online. The restrictive terms of Bill 43 are, in my opinion a great step backwards. I will be contacting my MLA to express my concern and outrage about the terms of Bill 43 that affect our ability to research our ancestors, and about the speed with which the Bill has been pushed through. I urge all with genealogical concerns in British Columbia to do likewise. To find out who the MLAs for British Columbians are go to www.legis.gov.bc.ca./index.htm Click on "Members" and the resulting page will allow you to search by Postal Code to find out who your MLA is. The MLA's page gives their biography and contact information. Bill 43 may be accessed at the following URL http://www.leg.bc.ca/37th5th/1st_read/gov43-1.htm Wherever our residence and/or genealogical interests lie we should all be concerned about the attacks on our rights to access information regarding our ancestry. Since 911 these attacks have been increasing -- both in Canada and the United States. We must be watchful in our own Provinces and States for legislation that restricts our access to these vital records, and we must take the necessary steps to let our government bodies know we object to unreasonable restrictions to access. We do not wish to see unlawful use of these records but anyone seeking information for illegal purposes is not likely to be seeking information on people born 100 or more years ago. Happy (?) Hunting. Gordon A. Watts gordon_watts@telus.net Co-chair, Canada Census Committee Port Coquitlam, BC http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census en francais http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm Permission to forward without notification is granted.