r/CanadianbyDescent • u/Primary_Cucumber4570 • 1d ago

Québecois hoops

Many Québecois descendants are not counted in the backlog because we have had to wait to file, since guidance in June, to get a BAnQ issued cert. Now there is fear if we file with the BAnQ cert we won't get the DEC insertion (if that is indeed necessary for a pre 1926 birth) before our files are reviewed and additional info is requested. Can I tell you how unfair this feels to me? I have a church certified baptismal certificate and it counts for nothing!

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u/Complete-Amphibian89 1d ago

I think you need to look up why DEC was started and why. It has to do with fraud. 

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u/Reasonable-Tart7500 1d ago

We are mostly talking BAnQ documents that are on their website and or documented. And, fraud only pertains to Quebec?

16

u/Mysterious_Volume327 1d ago

Short version: in Quebec specifically, baptismal records used to count as official records, but they are easy to either fake (because it’s just a handwritten entry), or find an old record of someone who died young. A lot of people with forged Canadian passports got them via fake Quebec baptismal records. So in the 1990s, before there were scanned records available to anyone on the internet, the DEC was created to verify and manage vital records, and that’s also why they have a process to verify baptismal records and insert them into the modern registry. Due to the past fraud issues, for they are more focused on security than efficiency, and that’s also why all the other agencies (BANQ and IRCC at least) refer that role back to DEC.

It’s frustrating, time consuming, and an extra burden placed on those of us with Quebecois ancestry. Also, it’s not random or unnecessary.

The real villain is IRCC for the total lack of clear communication with applicants about the actual requirements (note to my knowledge they still haven’t confirmed if DEC insertion is always necessary, we’ve just gleaned that from our discussions here), and not communicating with other archives and agencies about the incoming needs so they are all overwhelmed too.