A child in Quebec can have more than 2 parents, Superior Court rules

Antoni Nerestant · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 27, 2025 4:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Children successful Quebec tin person much than 2 parents, according to a Superior Court determination that now gives the provincial authorities 12 months to amend the Civil Code to legally admit this benignant of household structure. 

In a ruling issued connected Thursday, Judge Andres C. Garin examined complaints from 2 abstracted cases.

The plaintiffs successful those cases were La Coalition des familles LGBT+ — a radical that seeks to person each families recognized careless of however they're formed — as good arsenic 3 families who were incapable to enactment the names of 3 parents on their children's commencement certificates. 

The ruling examines the conception of filiation, which is the ineligible narration betwixt a kid and parents that establishes rights and responsibilities, and whether the Civil Code of Quebec, arsenic presently written, is equipped to admit multi-parent families.

The justice determined that the Civil Code's inability to legally admit multi-parent families violates the complainants' Canadian Charter close to equality. 

"Having a maximum of 2 filiation links sends the connection to multi-parent families and nine successful wide that lone families deemed "normal", with a maximum of 2 parents, correspond household structures that are valid and worthy of ineligible recognition," the ruling reads.

"This connection reinforces and perpetuates the disadvantages experienced by those who are portion of a non-traditional family."

The justice besides stressed that recognizing the rights of these families is successful the champion involvement of the children arsenic good arsenic the parents. 

Other Canadian and Quebec charter rights violations were alleged by the complainants:

• The Canadian Charter close to life, liberty and information of the person.
• The Quebec charter close to life, idiosyncratic security, inviolability and freedom.
• The Quebec Charter close to respect for one's backstage life. 

The judge, however, disagreed with those claims.

At the clip of publication, it was unclear whether Quebec planned to entreaty this ruling. A spokesperson for Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said the authorities is reviewing the judge's decision.

If the ruling stands and changes are eventually made to the Civil Code, Quebec would go the 5th state oregon territory successful Canada to legally admit families with astatine slightest 3 parents.

Under B.C. law, a kid conceived done assisted reproduction tin person up to 3 parents as agelong arsenic determination is simply a written agreement, and the instrumentality specifies which individuals are allowed to beryllium portion of that agreement.

In Ontario, up to 4 radical tin beryllium recognized arsenic the parents of a child, careless of however the kid is conceived. The aforesaid goes for Saskatchewan.

In Yukon, declarations of commencement request to see the names of the child, the mother, the begetter and "another parent" if that applies.

The territory's Vital Statistics Act defines parent arsenic "the pistillate from whom a kid is delivered" and father arsenic "a person who acknowledges being the biologic begetter of a child."

The Quebec Superior Court ruling does not specify however the authorities should amend the Civil Code.