Ontario Child Care & Early Years Act – Reg. 137/15 – link to the full regulations here.
Exemptions for Vaccinations are Available for Children attending daycare centres, as well as Employees, Owners and Family Members of Home based daycare centers. There are different exemption forms – one for Individuals and one for Parents of a child attending daycare.
The exemption form is available from the Ontario Central Forms Repository (we recommend getting two originals signed so you can keep an original for yourself). You can access the form at the Ontario website here:
Statement of Conscience or Religious Belief for Individual – Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 – When you download the form you “Choose Your Status
– Parent of a child
– An individual”
Statement of Medical Exemption – Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014
Ontario Affidavits must be signed and stamped by a Notary or Commissioner of Oaths, “Commissioners of Oaths are: Regional Clerk or Deputy Regional Clerk; City Clerk or Deputy Clerk; Treasurers or Deputy Treasurers of municipalities;[check your local municipal office] Justices of the Peace (for items of a legal nature); Lawyers; MP; MPP; [call your local MP or MPP’s office] Licensed Paralegals; Police Chiefs; some staff at the Service Ontario [Please Click here to see *** note below if you will be using Service Ontario], Government Information Centre are Commissioners”.
Call ahead as some Ontario MPPs refuse to sign exemption forms including:
France Gelinas MPP Sudbury NDP
Peter Tabuns MPP Toronto NDP
Peggy Sattler MPP London West NDP
Teresa Armstrong London NDP
Niagara Region Public Health provides this advice for getting your form signed:
- “The affidavit must be signed and stamped by a commissioner of oath, notary public or a justice of the peace
- The Commissioner for Taking Affidavit must print their name (lawyers, print law society number), full address, telephone number, title and seal if available
- Niagara Region Public Health cannot legally accept a fax or photocopy of the affidavit. If you require an original for your personal files, have the commissionaire complete two forms.
- Please be advised that if you move to another public health unit area at a future date, you may be required to complete another Affidavit at that time
Commissioner of Oaths
A Commissioner of Oath is a person authorized to take your oath or solemn affirmation when you sign an affidavit or a statutory declaration.
- Commissioners of Oaths are: Regional Clerk or Deputy Regional Clerk; City Clerk or Deputy Clerk; Treasurers or Deputy Treasurers of municipalities; Justices of the Peace (for items of a legal nature); Lawyers; MP; MPP; Licensed Paralegals; Police Chiefs; some staff at the Service Ontario, Government Information Centre are Commissioners
- Some Commissioners will provide the service at no cost, others may charge a fee
- Multiple pieces of photo ID may also be required”
***Please note, the Ontario Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 replaced the Day Nurseries Act on August 31, 2015. Exemptions are available under the new act, but there are changes to the form in 2016:****
Immunization
35. (1) Every licensee shall ensure that before a child who is not in attendance at a school, within the meaning of the Education Act, is admitted to a child care centre it operates or to a premises where it oversees the provision of home child care, and from time to time thereafter, the child is immunized as recommended by the local medical officer of health.
Note: On August 29, 2016, subsection 35 (1) of the Regulation is amended by adding “or private school” after “school”. (See: O. Reg. 126/16, s. 24 (1))
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply where a parent of the child objects in writing to the immunization on the ground that the immunization conflicts with the sincerely held convictions of the parent’s religion or conscience or a legally qualified medical practitioner gives medical reasons in writing to the licensee as to why the child should not be immunized.
Note: On August 29, 2016, subsection 35 (2) of the Regulation is amended by striking out “in writing” wherever it appears. (See: O. Reg. 126/16, s. 24 (2))
Note: On August 29, 2016, section 35 of the Regulation is amended by adding the following subsections: (See: O. Reg. 126/16, s. 24 (3))
(3) Objections and medical reasons under subsection (2) shall be submitted in a form approved by the Minister. O. Reg. 126/16, s. 24 (3).
(4) An exemption under subsection (2) that was made before August 29, 2016 shall expire on September 1, 2017 unless a new objection or medical reasons are submitted in a form approved by the Minister before that date. O. Reg. 126/16, s. 24 (3).
As shown above, the Child Care and Early Years Act has a provision for legal exemption from vaccination.
The Ontario government website states,
“Children in licensed daycare centres
If you want your child to attend daycare, and decide not to vaccinate them due to medical, religious or philosophical reasons, you will need to give your daycare a valid written exemption. If the disease appears in your child’s daycare centre, your child may have to stay out of daycare until the disease is no longer present.”
It is your right to be informed.
Vaccine Choice Canada (Formerly VRAN)
*** Information regarding Commissioner of Oaths at ServiceOntario Offices – they are not obligated to sign exemption forms, please call ahead.
From: Feedback (MGCS)
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2017 10:02 AM
To: info@vaccinechoicecanada.com
Subject: RE: Reply: Yes, Page: https://www.ontario.ca/page/serviceontario-locations-hours-and-contact
Thank you for contacting ServiceOntario.
No Commissioner (whether in a ServiceOntario or not) can be forced to sign a form that they are not comfortable with signing. At all times and under any circumstances they would have the right to refuse to sign any document. Individual Commissioners hold legal appointments and they must decide what they will or will not commission.
In general, the Commissioners in ServiceOntario offices are there to commission documents that are related to ServiceOntario services. Since the document you mentioned isn’t related to a ServiceOntario service (ie: registering a business, transfer of a vehicle, etc.) it does not fall under the types of affidavits they would normally be expected to commission. If staff feel comfortable signing the form, that’s fine. If not, then they can exercise their right to refuse to sign the affidavit.
There are two types of ownership groups for ServiceOntario centres, some are publicly owned and the rest are privately owned.
The publicly owned centres have Commissioners on staff that may not charge a fee to sign documents and are available when the centre is open. If a privately owned centre has Commissioners they will charge a fee to sign a document but, they may only be available for certain hours. The Commissioner will decide what documents they sign. For information about a specific centre please contact that centre.
To find the services offered, the address and the hours of the centre in your area please visit the website at: https://www.services.gov.on.ca/sf/#/
In the Service Finder webpage, please type the service you are looking for or select one from the list under Most popular services. Then enter the name of a City or Town in the search bar under Search locations.
In Ontario, there are thousands of Commissioners who have been appointed in the businesses or organizations that need them. Commissioners who are automatically commissioners because of their position and who can authorize documents include all Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP), mayors, reeves, municipal clerks, municipal treasurers, justices of the peace and lawyers. The City of Toronto no longer authorizes documents.
Regards.
Ian
Customer Service Representative (Bilingual)
ServiceOntario – making it easier
Visit us at: www.ServiceOntario.ca
From: do.not.reply@ontario.ca
Sent: May 1, 2017 4:03 PM
To: Feedback (MGCS)
Subject: Reply: Yes, Page: https://www.ontario.ca/page/serviceontario-locations-hours-and-contact
Referring page: page/serviceontario-locations-hours-and-contact
Message:
Hello, My name is Rita Hoffman and I am the Secretary with the group Vaccine Choice Canada. We have just been advised that a member of the public tried to get the Ontario Government form “Statement of Conscience or Religious Belief Affidavit 4897-64E (2013/08)” signed by a Commissioner of Oaths at a Service Ontario Outlet, but was told that “this form is not on their list of forms they can sign.” The Niagara Region Health Unit indicates the following, on who can sign the Affidavit: “Commissioners of Oaths are: Regional Clerk or Deputy Regional Clerk; City Clerk or Deputy Clerk; Treasurers or Deputy Treasurers of municipalities; Justices of the Peace (for items of a legal nature); Lawyers; MP; MPP; Licensed Paralegals; Police Chiefs; some staff at the Service Ontario, Government Information Centre are Commissioners” – here is the web link so you can confirm this: http://www.niagararegion.ca/health/vaccinations/children/school-exemption.aspx Can you please advise me: 1) Will Service Ontario employees who are Commissioner of Oaths sign the above form? 2) If not, can you please provide us with the list of forms that can be signed? 3) If the forms can be signed, is there a cost to sign these forms? 4) Do all of your offices have Commissioner of Oaths on staff at all times? 5) If the forms can be signed, what is the suggested protocol for people wanting to get their form signed. Thank you very much time, and I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. Sincerely, Rita Hoffman
