Prince Edward Island’s Minister of Social Development and Housing said the province will be bringing forward legislation in the fall to make adoption records more freely available.
Hon. Ernie Hudson, Minister of Social Development and Housing, PEI.
Minister Ernie Hudson made the remarks in response to a question posed by Montague-Kilmuir MLA Cory Deagle, a member of his own Progressive Conservative party. He said the new PEI government will follow through on the previous government’s plans to open adoption records.
The province’s adoption records are currently sealed, and children can only be given information about their birth parents — and vice versa — after consent is obtained.
Prince Edward Island will become the last province in Canada to open its adoption records, leaving only two territories, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, with closed records.
In 1995, British Columbia became the first province to have open adoption records.
More on the story in The Guardian.
It’s about time. Access to P.E.I. vital statistics in general lags behind every other progressive place and has apparently been blocked by one person with outdated ideas. It’s about time these records are opened up for inspection, without obstacles, by interested parties. We don’t need one person designating herself or himself as the person to stand in the way of access. No one should have the right or the power to prevent people from knowing their biological, medical, cultural, or genealogical history, and that of their family members. It’s just wrong-headed to try to prevent them from learning who they really are. I hope that P.E.I. will get in step with other modern places and not be the laughing-stock of the country.