Possible rule change regarding DEC / BAnQ documents
I was looking for the best way to obtain a copy of a baptism from the late 1800s, so I spoke to a knowledgeable lawyer/advocate who handles these cases. They told me that DEC advised them about 10 days ago of a rule change. Now, to issue a birth certificate, they are requiring applicants to submit a certified copy of the baptismal record issued by the BANQ. The reason given was that DEC is overwhelmed with requests and lacks sufficient archival staff to process birth certificate requests from before 1926. So they are pushing the archival work on the BANQ.
I can't say if this is 100% true or not, but it came from a trusted source and it makes sense.
Given this, I think I am going to wait for the certified record from the BAnQ and then, once that arrives, submit that to the IRCC while submitting the request to the DEC at the same time. That will at least get me in the queue. If they need the actual DEC-certified copy, then I will have already started that process. And if not, I might have wasted a little extra money, but it's not a big deal, and it's a relatively small amount.
I just submitted the BAnQ request yesterday, so I know that I have a long wait ahead of me there. And that's the final document that I need for this process before I can submit. But I figured I'd just tell others here what I was told in case anyone else is in the same boat.