Ontario's birth certificate is about to enter into the 21st century.
Like Canada's recently-reworked bank notes, the upcoming refresh of the province's birth certificate will take advantage of high-tech polymers and innovative new security features to create a document that is supposed to be both more durable and more difficult to counterfeit. Some of those new security features include print that is raised and colour-shifting images.
According to the provincial government, the new certificate should “last a lifetime” under normal circumstances, which is probably a good thing since the government issues some 200,000 birth certificates each year. Children born on and after April 15, 2015 will be the first to receive the new certificates. For those that are old enough to be able to read this article, there's no need to replace your current birth certificate; all existing birth certificates will continue to be valid.
“I am always looking for ways our government can help make everyday life easier for Ontarians, and these new polymer birth certificates do just that,” said Premier Kathleen Wynne in the press release that followed the annoucement. “Having a safe and durable birth certificate will provide more security and help protect people from fraud and identify theft.”
Source: Government of Ontario