Bill 183 to open adoption records in Ontario, Canada (29 July 2005)

Summary: Earlier this year, the province of Ontario, in Canada, introduced a bill (183) which, if passed, would open adoption records to adopted people over the age of 18 without any disclosure veto attached.

Earlier this year, the province of Ontario, in Canada, introduced a
bill (183) which, if passed, would open adoption records to adopted
people over the age of 18 without any disclosure veto attached.

A disclosure veto gives the person being sought the right to veto the
release of information. Only adoptees or natural parents are allowed to
seek such information.

The bill was brought in by the present Minister of Community Services,
Sandra Pupatello after careful planning and consultation with the
Canadian Council of Natural Mothers, The Coalition for Open Adoption
Records and with the backing of the Ontario Children's Aid Services
(one of the largest adoption brokers in the province) and the Adoption
Council of Canada.

While the majority of members in the Ontario House of Legislature -
both government and opposition - back the bill there are two opposition
members who were successful in stalling a vote on the bill by
filibustering tactics during the clause by clause reading of the bill.

There is also the extraordinary involvement of the Ontario Privacy
Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian.

The Privacy Commissioner's role is to advise the government and to
educate the public.

The government did indeed consult Dr Cavoukian prior to bringing the
bill before parliament, and she conceded at that point that the bill
would be, ultimately, a matter of "social policy."

Once the bill was brought before the House, however, Dr. Cavoukian
appointed herself chief lobbyist against the bill, claiming to
represent "thousands" of anonymous people who had contacted her office
to state that their lives "would be ruined" if the bill were passed.
She claims that some people threatened suicide if the bill were passed.

Dr Cavoukian's office has no jurisdiction over release of adoption
information.

Despite being given hard core facts regarding benchmark legislation
which has been in place in England and Australia for many years now,
the Privacy Commissioner has chosen to use very selected excerpts from
those documents to try and prove that open adoption records do NOT
work in other countries.

The right wing press in Ontario has taken up her wild statements and
published them as fact while, at the same time, dimming down any
rebuttals sent to them which prove the opposite.

With each province in Canada free to legislate on adoption records as
they see fit, a pattern of unequal rights for children is developing in
Canada. There is no unifying policy from the federal government.

The United Nations Committee for the Rights of the Child made specific
recommendation to Canada in October 2003 stating:

"The Committee recommends that the State party consider amending its
legislation to ensure that information about the date and place of
birth of adopted children and their biological parents are preserved
and made available to these children.”

In posing the question to the Canadian delegation, Commissioner Rosa Maria Ortiz from Paraguay

“. . . regretted that only three Canadian provinces guaranteed the
right for adopted children to know the identity of their biological
parents, a right which is vital for their mental health and is not
incompatible with the right to a private life.” (Extract from the
minutes of the morning session.)

However, adoption law in Canada comes under provincial jurisdiction and
until the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is incorporated into
Canadian federal law nothing much can be done to persuade the federal
government to bother heeding this recommendation.

Ron Murdock, Canadian Citizen. Lobbyist to the UN Commission on the Rights of the Child, Geneva, in September 2003 which resulted in the Commissioners making written recommendation to Canada (October 2003) that, as a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Canada should open adoption records in all provinces.