Bill 138 explained in plain English
Change of Name Amendment Act, 2023
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 43rd 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 138 introduces amendments to the Change of Name Act to prevent individuals subject to the Sex Offender Registry from changing their name, with consequential amendments to the Sex Offender Registry Act.
This bill, the Change of Name Amendment Act, 2023, proposes to amend the Change of Name Act and make related changes to Christopher’s Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000. The main purpose is to make certain individuals ineligible to change their name. Specifically, individuals who are required to comply with Christopher's Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000, will be ineligible to apply for a name change, with potential exceptions provided for in regulations or certified by the Attorney General. The bill also clarifies information sharing between the sex offender registry and the Registrar General to facilitate this new ineligibility rule.
- Amends the Change of Name Act to make certain individuals ineligible to change their name.
- Amends Christopher’s Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000 to allow ministry employees or authorized persons to access the sex offender registry for the purposes of facilitating name change ineligibility checks.
- Allows for regulations to be made that may provide exceptions to the name change ineligibility, potentially with conditions.
- Requires the Registrar General to inform individuals if they are ineligible to change their name and the reason why.
- Ensures that the previous rules for name changes continue to apply to applications made before the new rules come into effect.
- Individuals who are required to comply with Christopher’s Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000.
- Individuals applying to change their name in Ontario.
- The Registrar General of Ontario.
- Employees or persons authorized by the ministry responsible for the sex offender registry.
- The Attorney General of Ontario or a person authorized by them.
- Individuals subject to the Sex Offender Registry are made ineligible to apply for a name change.
- The Attorney General or their authorized representative may certify name changes, overriding the ineligibility.
- The Registrar General has a duty to inform ineligible applicants of their ineligibility.
- Ministry employees and authorized persons have access to and can use information from the sex offender registry for name change eligibility purposes.
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council can make regulations providing exceptions to the name change ineligibility.
- The Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor, unless otherwise specified.
- A specific subsection (Subsection 1 (2)) comes into force six months after the day Subsection 1 (1) comes into force.
- The bill mentions exceptions that 'may be set out in the regulations' but does not specify what these exceptions are or when the regulations will be made.
- The bill states that the Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation, so the exact date is not yet determined.
Adds a new section (4.1) that makes certain individuals ineligible to apply for a name change. These individuals are those required to comply with Christopher’s Law (Sex Offender Registry), 2000. It also allows for exceptions to be made by regulation, requires the Registrar General to notify ineligible applicants, and establishes a transition rule for existing applications. It also amends section 7.1 to allow for the inclusion of information regarding a person's ineligibility status.
Source: Section 1 of Bill 138
Amends section 13 by adding a new subsection that allows the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations providing for exceptions from the Act or any provision of the Act, and to make these exceptions subject to conditions.
Source: Section 3 of Bill 138
Adds subsections (3.1) and (3.2) to section 10. These allow employees or authorized persons of the ministry to access the sex offender registry for the purposes of section 7.1 of the Change of Name Act. They can collect, retain, and use this information, and also disclose it to the Registrar General for the purposes of the Change of Name Act.
Source: Section 4(1) of Bill 138
Amends subsection 10(4) by changing the reference from 'subsection (2) or (3)' to 'subsections (2) to (3.2)' to reflect the new subsections added.
Source: Section 4(2) of Bill 138
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
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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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