Family Search - Canadian Privacy Laws

[VCairns]

A friend from Canada recently found out that her father had a child out of wedlock and never told his children and they only found out while sorting through his estate.

She has been able to find out her sisters name, her mother and a possible birth year (early 1950's).  It appears the child was given her fathers name (even though they were not married).  Does this mean that the father was registered on the birth certificate.

Because I live in Australia I am not familiar with Canada's privacy laws.  Is my friend able to go to the equivalent BDM and look up a register? Also, if she was able to locate a Birth certificate would she be able to purchase.

My friend also found out from an Aunt that her sister attempted to contact her father several years ago but his wife answered the phone and told her never to ring again.  So this indicates that she may be susceptible to other family members contact her.

Is there any other resources my friend can use to help find her sister.

[RunKitty]

Hello,

Rootschat is not set up for finding living people - but I think we can give you some information and suggestions that might help.

Canadian privacy laws are very strict.  Birth registrations from the 1950s will not be in the public domain - whichever Province this lady was born in (Registrations fall under Provincial rather than national, jurisdiction).  I have included a link to the "Civil Registration" guide from the Vancouver Public Library.  It is a very good description of what records are available in each Province (scroll down and you can see the tabs).

http://guides.vpl.ca/genealogy/civilregistration

If you have an idea where in Canada this lady was born or where she might be living now, that would be very helpful!!  You can check voters' lists (available on Ancestry... your library might have access to the free Ancestry Library Edition), you can look at local newspapers for things like a marriage announcement, the birth of her children, perhaps she might be mentioned in the obituary of a relative (her mother/grandparents etc).  There is also the Canada411 site ... it is an online phone book.  You might also try looking for her on social media - especially if she is trying to find her family too. 

These are just a few ideas.  I hope other people can add to the list.

Good luck

RK