hey, this is 100% a writing question: if someone is looking to leave their family and they're over the age of 16 (and in canada), can they do so without telling their family? and do the laws differ from province to province? the person in question lives in saskatchewan but wants to move to somewhere in ontario. also, will she need her birth certificate, health card, that sort of thing, if she has the info on the latter somewhere but not the actual card? thank you!
Yes they can, though they may want to tell someone so that if their family reports them as missing they don’t cause a manhunt. If the police find them, though, and they don’t want to go back home they won’t be forced to do so.
There really isn’t a law that governs this specifically, so it wouldn’t differ by province. This person is under the age of majority (which can vary by province but is either 18 or 19), but is at an age that she is capable of caring for herself and from a practical perspective would be allowed to make her own choice.
She should probably have her paperwork, but if she doesn’t have it for whatever reason, she can get by for a while. She’ll want to order new documents in case she needs them as soon as she’s able, but you can get health care with just the number in a lot of places if you say you lost your card.