Canada_ (Commonwealth) _ The parents of ugwal’s K’ala’ask Shaw now got a birth certificate that correctly spells their son’s name after 13 months of conflict. Crystal Smith and Raymond Shaw have been fighting British Columbia’s Vital Statistics Bureau to honor the Kwakwala characters in the name of their infant boy, and they have now won.
The opportunity to claim names on birth certificates “coming ahead, will be available to all Indigenous peoples, regardless of age,” according to the provincial Ministry of Health. According to Smith, it’s the beginning of a larger movement of acknowledgment. With more than 34 languages and 90 dialects, British Columbia boasts the greatest diversity of Indigenous languages in the nation.
Ugwals K’ala’ask Shaw’s name, according to Smith, who is Ts’ymsen and Haisla, is from an origin myth of Shaw’s people, the Wei Wai Kum First Nation, and means “the area where people are blessed.” Smith narrated that there were four brothers who traveled to Loughborough Inlet to hunt.
The eldest brother spotted a mountain goat with one horn. While he shot the mountain goat, it didn’t drop. He pursued it till he reached the cave, where he discovered a guy. He was an angelic entity. The elder brother ended up being there for four days, during which time the mountain goat said that he would be giving him gifts.
The Vital Statistics office refused to recognize the name when Smith and Shaw recorded the birth of their baby, stating that it would only accept names made out of Latin alphabetic letters, apostrophes, hyphens, periods, and French accents.
In 2022, the parents complained to the B.C. Supreme Court, claiming that the agency’s naming guidelines infringe on their fundamental rights. The Kwakwala speakers put a lot of effort into developing this written language, which they later changed when Vital Stats objected or didn’t recognize it, according to Smith.
She said that after his birth, her son was only ever referred to as “Baby Boy Shaw” at all of his medical appointments. Every time Smith saw a doctor after giving birth and when he needed to attend the emergency department because he had COVID-19, he had to describe the issue to the doctor. She claimed that because her kid didn’t receive a birth certificate, the hospital had charged her for giving birth to him.
Smith argues, “They [Vital Statistics] should be maintaining that with all the pain that Canada has inflicted Indigenous people, and through that harm we were able to come up with a written language.
The BC courts are still hearing the matter. Smith asserts that Vital Statistics has six months to modify its procedures in return for a postponement of the proceedings. Every Indigenous person in the province should be able to have their name appropriately recorded on official papers like an ID or birth certificate, according to a statement from the provincial Ministry of Health.
