The Ontario Registrar General (ORG) has temporarily permitted the electronic transfer or faxing of death registration documents amid COVID-19 and allow municipalities to safely issue burial permits.

Below is a summary of the changes:

• Regulation 1094 of the Vital Statistics Act has been amended to allow a copy to be made of the medical certificate to be sent between coroners, funeral directors, and division registrars to issue burial permits.

• A funeral home may send a copy of the statement of death and medical certificate of death and/or coroner’s warrant to bury through a secure electronic method or fax. A municipality may also send an acknowledgment of death to a funeral home using the same methods.

  • Original documents will need to be sent to the municipality weekly on a ‘best effort basis’ for processing.

  • Once the original documents have been recieved, municipalities should continue to fulfil their responsibilities relating to registering deaths as required by the Vital Statistics Act and send the original documents to the ORG weekly on a 'best effort basis' to complete the death registration process. 

• The electronic exchange of documents must be completed in accordance with the municipality’s IT and encryption policies and follow requirements under MFIPPA.

Ontario’s local governments will continue to provide death registration services.

Over the past two weeks, AMCTO has worked with our partners at the City of Toronto, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), and an informal group of Clerks across the province to seek these reforms.

AMCTO is pleased to see this relief provided effective immediately as it allows our members to continue to provide critical services in the current state of emergency. This move will eliminate a potential source of transmission in our communities and ensure the safety of all parties and the broader community by minimizing risk and flattening the curve.   

For more information, please see below:

Ontario Registrar General Memo: Pandemic Planning – Issuing Burial Permits and Death Registration

Ontario Registrar General Memo: Technical Considerations