Daily BrewTypo in B.C. man’s birth certificate turns into bureaucratic nightmare
You probably don't give your birth certificate much thought.
It's an important document, to be sure. Just ask Barack Obama, some of whose opponents still don't accept his Hawaiian birth certificate as proof he's American enough to be U.S. president.
Most of us keep our birth certificates tucked in a drawer or filing cabinet, maybe a safe deposit box at the bank, until we need it for something like getting a passport.
But if you have a problem with your birth certificate it can strike at the core of your identity.
Jack MacKay knows all about that. Or should we say Jack Mac Kay, which is what his birth certificate says.
A simple typographical error has turned MacKay's official life upside down.
[ Related: White House releases Obama birth certificate ]
MacKay, who was born in Manitoba but now lives in Surrey, B.C., told CTV News the trouble started when he requested a replacement birth certificate from Manitoba Vital Statistics a couple of years ago.
When the new certificate arrived, a typo had inserted a space between Mac and Kay.
Now, said MacKay, other official documents must conform to the way his name is spelled on the birth certificate, from his driver's licence to his reissued marriage certificate.
"When they issued my licence it clearly shows a two-name surname, and I said, 'That's not the correct spelling of my name.' And they said 'that's how it's spelled on your birth certificate,'" MacKay told CTV News.
"I was referred to the director. The director looked at the document and said 'it's spelled correctly' . . . Basically I was sitting there arguing with someone about the correct spelling of my name."
MacKay, 61, told The Canadian Press he's concerned about having two names because he works at a casino and is subject to routine criminal background checks.
MacKay's wife, Susan, is worried about the legal ramifications if the problem isn't rectified.
"What if he should pass away and his insurance is in 'MacKay,' but they're saying he's 'Mac Kay.' What happens to that money?"
It gets stranger. The mistake seems to go back to MacKay's original birth certificate, which was filled out by his mother. She left a little space between Mac and Kay, which the vital statistics bureaucrats apparently now construe as denoting two separate words.
[ Related: Mom of transgender child wants ID rules changed ]
The agency said the fix is simple. MacKay's mum, Eileen Desrochers, signs a declaration that she made the mistake.
MacKay said he's refusing to let his mother sign anything, insisting it was the government's mistake, not hers. Desrochers agrees.
"I don't know why they won't correct it and be done with it," she told CTV News.
A Winnipeg estate lawyer told CP the two separate spellings of MacKay's name should not be a problem when it comes to a life insurance policy or will as long as the benefactors can prove both spellings apply to the same person.
