Bill 206 explained in plain English
Change of Name Amendment Act, 2020
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 206 amends the Change of Name Act to prevent individuals convicted of or subject to certain criminal laws, including sex offender registry requirements, from changing their name, with exceptions for specific circumstances and regulations.
Bill 206, the Change of Name Amendment Act, 2020, amends the Change of Name Act to make certain individuals ineligible to change their name. This includes individuals subject to Christopher's Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000, and those convicted of or found not criminally responsible for prescribed criminal offences. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may create regulations for exceptions. The bill also makes related changes to Christopher's Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000, concerning information sharing between ministries and the Registrar General.
- Amends the Change of Name Act to introduce ineligibility criteria for changing one's name.
- Identifies persons subject to Christopher's Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000, or convicted of prescribed criminal offences as ineligible to change their name.
- Allows for exceptions to name change ineligibility through regulations made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
- Provides exceptions for name changes certified by the Attorney General or their authorized representative, and for name revocations due to fraud or misrepresentation.
- Requires the Registrar General to inform individuals of their ineligibility to change their name and the reasons why.
- Specifies how the Change of Name Act applied before the amendments for submitted applications.
- Amends Christopher's Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000, to allow ministry employees or authorized persons access to the sex offender registry for purposes related to the Change of Name Act.
- Allows ministry employees or authorized persons to disclose sex offender registry information to the Registrar General for the purposes of the Change of Name Act.
- Individuals seeking to change their name in Ontario.
- Individuals required to comply with Christopher's Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000.
- Individuals convicted of prescribed criminal offences or found not criminally responsible for prescribed criminal offences.
- The Registrar General of Ontario.
- Employees or persons authorized by the Ministry responsible for Christopher's Law.
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council.
- Individuals may be ineligible to change their name if they are subject to Christopher's Law or have been convicted of prescribed criminal offences.
- The Attorney General or a person authorized by them can certify a name change, creating an exception to ineligibility.
- The Registrar General has a duty to inform individuals of their ineligibility to change their name and the reasons.
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council has the power to make regulations providing for exceptions to the Act's provisions.
- The Act comes into force on a day named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor (Section 5(1)).
- Subsection 1 (2) of the Act comes into force six months after the day subsection 1 (1) comes into force (Section 5(2)).
- The specific criminal offences that will make a person ineligible to change their name are to be prescribed by regulation by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
- The specific conditions under which exceptions to ineligibility may be granted are to be provided for in regulations.
- The full commencement date of the Act is not yet proclaimed.
Adds a new section (5.1) making certain individuals ineligible to change their name, introduces exceptions, and requires notification of ineligibility. It also makes changes to section 7.1 regarding information access and amends section 13 to allow for regulations creating exceptions.
Source: Section 1, Section 2, Section 3
Amends section 10 to allow ministry employees or authorized persons to access, collect, retain, and use information from the sex offender registry for the purposes of section 7.1 of the Change of Name Act. It also allows disclosure of this information to the Registrar General for the purposes of the Change of Name Act.
Source: Section 4
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
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Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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