WINNIPEG — Manitobans can finally apply for important documentation online to obtain birth, marriage and death certificates.
Always being a paper, pen and snail-mail type of process, the province is moving to streamline applications through the government’s Vital Statistics Agency.
The online process began its test phase in April and more than 5,000 applications have been received since then.
Manitobans can visit vitalstats.gov.mb.ca and click on Online Certificate Application. In some cases, applications might still need to be mailed, such as if additional documentation is needed to support a request.
While applying for documentation online may be new, performing an online search for documents that have already been filed is not.
The province warns that online searches for such documentation often brings up third party websites that charge a fee on top of what the government would normally charge.
“To protect the privacy of personal and confidential information, individuals should confirm they are ordering directly from the VSA by looking for the Manitoba government logo,” a news release said.
The VSA charges roughly $30 for most certificate types — much lower than third party vendors.
