HALIFAX—Nova Scotia, the last Canadian province without a commitment to open adoption records, is asking for public feedback as it considers loosening its grasp on the personal information of adoptees and their families.

On Wednesday, Nova Scotia’s Department of Community Services (DCS) launched an online survey, began accepting email submissions and announced plans to host a series of in-person consultation sessions before year’s end. Any member of a family touched by adoption and any person interested in adoption records is invited to give feedback, which will be compiled into a public report.

Community Services Minister Kelly Regan promised the consultation last spring.

Scott Pyke, a 36-year-old adoptee and founder of the Nova Scotia Adoptee Advocacy Group, has been pressing the government to update its laws to catch up with the rest of the country. He said the launch of public consultations indicated the province recognizes a problem and is “willing to work on it.”

Nova Scotia remains one of only two Canadian provinces and territories with sealed records — Prince Edward Island is the other, and that government has promised to introduce legislation to open adoption records.

According to a discussion paper from the department, Great Britain, Australia, France, Mexico, Scotland, Norway, New Zealand, Israel, Finland and several U.S. states all have open adoption records, too.

Pyke set out to find his birth family last year and relied on private DNA testing and social media. It worked — he successfully tracked down his birth family and was reunited this September — but he said he wished he could have relied on government support.

“It’s a very life-changing experience to have that communication start up again,” he said in an interview.

“We think that providing services to adoptees and birth families ... we can make sure this is done the right way, the most respectful way and the smoothest way possible.”

Since 1996, Nova Scotia has offered a passive adoption disclosure program, which allows people to access non-identifying information in their adoption file, including physical descriptions of birth parents and adult siblings, their education levels, medical information and the reason for the adoption.

Adoptees, birth parents and other relatives can add their names to a registry if they want to contact each other, and if both sides are willing, the province will help them connect.

In Canadian jurisdictions with open adoption records, identifying information is shared without explicit consent, as the default. But parties can step in to protect their privacy in two different ways: disclosure vetoes and contact notices.

If a person files a disclosure veto, the government won’t release identifying information from the adoption records. In some jurisdictions, the disclosure veto is only available for adoptions that took place before the open adoption records laws were passed.

Contact notices allow identifying information to be shared, but on the stipulation that the person who filed the notice is either not contacted or only contacted under named circumstances. Disobeying a contact notice is against the law.

Pyke is not alone in pushing for change to Nova Scotia’s adoption laws, and the push is not new. In a 2008 report, an advisory committee for the minister of community services recommended following the lead of other provinces with open adoption records, including nondisclosure vetoes and contact notices.

The advisory committee considered 11 public submissions before making the recommendation, and nine “strongly recommended opening adoption records to enable adults who were adopted, to access their birth records.”

The report also noted that the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern in 2003 about adoption policies in Canadian provinces.

At that time, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec also had sealed adoption records.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted children have the right to know their biological parents.

In a review of Canada’s implementation of that convention, the UN committee said it “recommends that the State party consider amending its legislation to ensure that information about the date and place of birth of adopted children and their biological parents are preserved and made available to these children.”

Still, DCS Minister Kelly Regan said there are some people “who really don’t want us to open up (adoption records).”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“We want to be sure that when we make changes, if we’re going to make changes, that we need to take into account all experiences of Nova Scotians,” Regan said in an interview.

Regan said she’s been receiving feedback on the topic as long as she’s been minister of community services, and her department was waiting to finish other projects before turning its focus to adoption records.

“Transformation is proceeding along quite well and so we have more time now.”

Read more about: