Released on April 11, 2007
The Government of Saskatchewan has introduced The Vital Statistics Act, 2007, updating the legislation that administers and maintains the province-wide system for registering births, deaths, stillbirths and marriages.
“It is necessary that we revisit one of the province’s earliest and most important pieces of legislation to ensure it meets the evolving needs of the people of Saskatchewan,” Health Minister Len Taylor said. “The Vital Statistics Act, 2007 encompasses the administrative and business processes involved in registering vital events in this day and age.”
The Vital Statistics Act, 2007 will repeal and replace The Vital Statistics Act, 1995 and The Vital Statistics Act, 1998 (unproclaimed). The intent is to update and clarify the act in a number of areas, including:
- reflect the administrative and business processes employed by Vital Statistics, hospitals and funeral directors in the registering of vital events;
- add transparency concerning the rights of access to records and rules for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information collected by Vital Statistics;
- allow for the inclusion of co-parents on the statements of live birth and stillbirth;
- provide authority for funeral directors and hospitals to electronically notify vital statistics of births, stillbirths and deaths;
- provide authority for the maintenance of electronic registries and indexes of vital event registrations; and
- allow the permanent retention of vital event registration documents in an electronic database.
If you have any questions concerning your vital events, please contact Saskatchewan Health Registration and Vital Statistics at 1-800-667-7551 or visit www.health.gov.sk.ca.
-30-
For more information, contact:
Joan Petrie
Health
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4083
Email: jpetrie@health.gov.sk.ca