Babies-Canada

Medical Coverage

• If you arrive in Canada while you're pregnant, your province's health care insurance plan may or may not cover the cost of your pre-natal care and delivery.

• It depends on whether or not your province provides health care insurance coverage from Day One to new residents who arrive from outside of Canada.

• Most Canadian provinces impose a three-month waiting period for provincial health care insurance.

• New residents of those provinces are advised to buy private medical insurance to cover them in emergencies.

• However, many private medical insurance companies do not provide coverage for pregnancy and delivery, because they classify pregnancy as a pre-existing condition.

• Keep in mind that a normal delivery, without complications, can cost C$5,000 - C$7,000 if you don't have provincial health care insurance.

• In many provinces, however, the provincial health care insurance plan does at least cover the baby as soon as he/she is born.

• Also, there are a few provinces that do provide immediate provincial health care insurance coverage to all new residents who have arrived from outside of Canada, including pregnant women.

Medical care during delivery

• In Canada, most babies are delivered by doctors in hospitals.

• Typically nurses care for the mother during most of her labour, and the doctor arrives near the end.

• The doctor who has been monitoring you during your pregnancy will make every effort to be at your delivery, even if it's at 2.00 a.m.

• However, a doctor sometimes does not make it to his/her patient's delivery, for a variety of reasons:
  • The doctor him/herself may be ill.
  • The doctor may be out of town.
  • The doctor may have two patients who are giving birth simultaneously, and he/she can't tear him/herself in half.

• Midwifery is not as common in Canada as it is in the UK.

• Most Canadian provinces have few midwives, and some provinces have none.

• Reports on the forum suggest that, in the provinces in which midwives are private practitioners, it costs about $4,000 to be under the care of a midwife for the duration of your pregnancy and during delivery.

• You can find out more from the BE Wiki article called Midwifery-Canada.

Registration of Birth

• Each province is responsible for registering births in that province.

• Just as you don't have a Canadian driver's licence (because you have a provincial driver's licence), your baby won't have a Canadian birth certificate (because he/she will have a provincial birth certificate).

• However, that provincial birth will serve as proof of his/her Canadian citizenship.

• If you are a British citizen (otherwise than by descent), your Canadian-born baby will be a British citizen by descent.

British Passport

• In order for a British parent to get a British passport for his/her Canadian-born child, the parent has to send to the British High Commission in Ottawa:
  • a passport application form
  • the child's provincial birth certificate
  • the birth certificate of the British parent named on the child's provincial birth certificate
  • 2 photographs that conform to specified dimensions
  • a fee of $175 (note that an adult passport costs about 50% more)

• The High Commission's website states that 6 weeks should be allowed for the issuing of a first British passport.

Canadian Passport

• If the parents want a Canadian passport for the child, it takes two weeks if the parents submit the application in person, and request the passport to be mailed to them.

• If they pay extra, deliver the passport application in person, and collect the passport in person, they can get an urgent passport (within 24 hours).

• If they submit the passport application by mail, it takes about 6 weeks for the passport to come through the mail.

• Here is a website on which you can look up passport offices in your province.

• The parents need to submit:
  • a passport application form
  • 2 photos that meet the size specifications
  • proof of the child's Canadian citizenship (e.g., Alberta birth certificate)
  • if the parents are separated, all documents pertaining to custody and access
  • for a standard, 24-page passport that is valid for 3 years, a fee of $22

Provincial Health Care Insurance Plan

• In many provinces, your baby automatically will be assigned his/her provincial health care insurance number while he/she still is in hospital.

• In many provinces the child's provincial health care insurance card is mailed to the parents automatically.

• However, it would be prudent for you to check how the system works in your province.

Social Insurance Number

• In many cases a child does not need a Social Insurance Number (SIN) until much later, but the parents may apply for one on the child's behalf, if they wish.

• If they set up a saving's account in the child's name, for example, the child will need a SIN.

• You can apply for your child's SIN at a Service Canada office.

• If you apply in person, the child will be assigned a SIN immediately, and his/her SIN card will follow later, in the mail.

• There is no charge for a first SIN card.

• You also may mail the Application Form and the child's provincial birth certificate to

Service Canada

Social Insurance Registration Office

P.O. Box 7000

Bathurst, New Brunswick

E2A 4T1

Immunization

• Most Canadian provinces offer free vaccinations for children.

• This is discussed in greater detail in the BE Wiki article called Immunization-Canada.