COAR Survey Response from the Ontario Liberal Party

September 10, 2003

Dr. Michael Grand, Ms. Wendy Rowney and Ms. Karen Lynn
Coalition for Open Adoption Records (COAR)
462 Ossington Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
M6G 3T2

Dear Dr. Grand, Ms. Rowney and Ms. Lynn:

Thank you kindly for your enquiry on behalf of the Coalition for Open Adoption Records (COAR). I appreciate your interest in my stance with respect to making adoption records accessible to adult adoptees and birth parents of adult adoptees.

It would be a pleasure to address the issue you raised, one that is important to many people in our province. As you are probably aware, private members’ bills pertaining to the issue were introduced during several previous legislative sessions. There has been an almost unanimous show of all-party support for changes to adoption disclosure procedures.

I voted in favour of the proposed changes to adoption disclosure procedures. I believe that, in the majority of cases, both adult adoptees and birth parents who have given their children up for adoption should be allowed access to their records. In my view, it is a question of human rights.

I have enclosed the different segments of our platform for your review as I thought they might be of interest to you. For additional information, you may also wish to consult our website at www.choosechange.ca. My team and I look forward to the opportunity to implement our plan for real, positive change in Ontario.

Again, I am grateful to you for allowing me to share my views on open adoption records. I look forward to an ongoing dialogue with you and your colleagues at COAR in the interests of adult adoptees and birth parents province-wide.

Yours truly,

ORIGINAL SIGNED BY

Dalton McGuinty
Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party

Encl.