Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette is showing “narrowness” by refusing to include multi-parenting in the Civil Code of Quebec, deplore families, who consider themselves invisible by the new reform of family law.
Karine Messier Newman wanted “to know about motherhood, pregnancy, birth”.
About ten years ago, she and her spouse undertook the project of founding a biological family. After evaluating the option of in vitro fertilization, they quickly realized the obvious. “We wanted a dad for our children”, launches the mother of the family in an interview with The duty.
The couple therefore set out to find a donor who wanted to get involved in the family. After two years, the two women have finally found the lucky winner. The three of them are now raising two little girls aged six and eight.
Multi-parent families like those of Karine Messier Newman do not exist in the Civil Code. According to the current legal framework, a family has one parent or two, not three, not four. Result: in this specific case, only the mothers have family ties with regard to the State. The father is deprived of it.
Last February, the Minister of Justice Simon Jolin-Barrette tabled a new bill with the aim of reforming family law. His proposals again exclude the notion of multiple parenting. “There is no study that shows that it is favorable to the interests of children to have more than two parents,” he alleged at a press conference.
It does not recognize what children are already going through. I find it appalling to exclude them like that.
A few days earlier, the LGBT+ Family Coalition had turned to the courts to challenge the current legislative framework. The organization wants “families with more than two parents to be legally recognized in Quebec”. He will also testify before a parliamentary committee as part of the study of Mr. Jolin-Barrette’s bill.
“When everything is going well between the parents, it’s great, but the law is also used when things are not going so well, supports Karine Messier Newman. If, for example, there is a disagreement between the parents, it is necessary to ensure the right of each parent to be present. [pour les enfants]. »
Repeated problems
France Desilets is the mother of two young people born in the early 2000s. She raised them with her ex-spouse Claudine Dugas, and with a man, David Baker. When her son was born, she could not be included on his birth certificate.
“The first problem we experienced because of that was in the hospital, in the first two months. Our boy was hospitalized for a week, and I was not recognized at all. I had no say. I couldn’t go visit it if Claudine wasn’t with me,” she says.
Then, when his daughter was born, it was the father’s name that was removed from official documents. “These are everyday problems. Traveling is a privilege, but we don’t have the same rights as two parents. If David wants to go somewhere with my daughter, he needs a letter from me and [Claudine] “, she says.
Sébastien, who speaks to us anonymously to protect the identity of his children, is the father of a family made up of three parents. His name does not appear on the birth certificates of his young.
An immigrant, he has “always been affected” by Quebec law. “My children could benefit from health care covered by my health plan abroad, but since there is no direct link, it becomes complicated,” he says.
Opening ?
British Columbia and Ontario are among the provinces that legally recognize families with more than two parents. In Quebec, the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, Martine Biron, has already said she is “open” for a few hours to changing the law. She backed out the same day.
“I can’t believe we’re late on this, because Quebec has always been ahead,” says France Desilets, indignant. [La loi] does not reflect the reality that we have lived, me and my family, for 22 years now. »
Karine Messier Newman deplores Minister Jolin-Barrette’s “archaic vision of the family”. “I find it narrow. It does not recognize what children are already going through. I find it appalling to exclude them like that. »
The study of Bill 12 reforming family law will begin next week in Quebec.