B.C. gender justice groups call for repeal of changes to Name Act

Gender justice groups in British Columbia want the government to repeal recent provincial legislation that prevents people convicted of serious Criminal Code offences from changing their names.

The call to repeal the Name Amendment Act comes from numerous transgender and gender rights groups, as well as the B.C. branch of the Canadian Bar Association and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.

The groups say the legislation was not necessary to protect the public and harms people most in need of legal name changes, including transgender people, Indigenous people and survivors of gender-based violence.

The new law requires those aged 12 and up to undergo a criminal record check before they can get their name changed. 

"The law includes alarming information sharing between the Ministry of Health and the RCMP. There is no reason children should have to submit to criminal records checks or have their information shared with police," Didi Dufresne, Qmunity's legal services director, said in a statement. 

It also increases fees and wait-times for those applying.

The groups say this creates a harmful barrier for survivors of violence seeking to protect their identity, residential school survivors looking to reclaim their Indigenous names, and transgender people trying to legalize a new name for themselves.

The amendments also prohibit people convicted of certain offences, or deemed a dangerous or long-term offender from ever changing their name. 

This is also problematic, according to the groups, as some of the same people whose rights they are concerned about are overrepresented in the justice system. 

In 2022, the Canadian Bar Association called on governments to simplify the process for changing names, not complicate it,  the B.C. branch's president, Lee Nevens, said.  

"This Act doesn't meet that goal and, in fact, increases the barriers," they said in a statement.

The groups say none of the impacted communities were consulted ahead of the amendments.

The Premier's Office said in a statement Thursday that it's looking at the gender justice groups' concerns, and that people deserve to be supported and empowered to change their name in a way "that is true to who they are," or for safety purposes.

However, the statement said the government remains committed to the purpose of the Name Amendment Act, to prevent dangerous criminals "from abusing the name change process to hide their identity."

The changes were prompted after B.C. United Leader Kevin Falcon introduced a proposed private member's bill to change the act after learning that B.C. child killer Allan Schoenborn was legally permitted to change his name to Ken John Johnson.

Schoenborn was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of his children, aged five, eight and 10, in Merritt, B.C., in 2008, but he was later found to be not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.