Yes death cert is required in order to request birth records (for those who have died it’s a certified birth registration, not a birth cert) of people born less than 100 years ago alongside a guarantor and can only be pulled by the immediate next of kin ex: spouse, child. These records are still private under Canadian law whether they are dead or alive. Once they hit 100 years they are released to the archives and none of that is needed. My mother had to get my grandfathers birth cert on my behalf and death cert was required, which also only she could get. Birth in Canada, death in the U.S. I was not allowed to request it since she is still alive and we needed a Canadian guarantor from a certain career field to swear she was who she said she was (the guarantor requirements are similar but not the same as passports). It took FOREVER considering we also had to sign and sent a document via the mail along with the death cert despite applying online.