(Quebec) The Barreau du Québec believes that the provisions of Bill 2 to regulate surrogacy, or the use of a surrogate woman to start a family, “miss the target of protecting the public”. He is calling for major changes to the family law reform that the government wants to adopt by the end of the session, even if the opposition parties consider the deadline too short.
Posted at 6:30 p.m.
The Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, is moving from one major reform (Law 96 on the French language) to another this spring. His Bill 2 is the first part of a long-requested update to the Civil Code. It first touches on the issues of filiation, while subjects related to conjugality – such as the supervision of de facto spouses – must be dealt with during the next legislature.
With regard to surrogacy, in the context where the contracts binding the intended parents to a surrogate woman are currently invalid in Quebec, even if this practice is common, the government provides, among other things:
-that the intended parents and the surrogate independently undergo training with a psychosocial worker;
-that the two parties sign a notarized agreement, which is then recorded in a register to ensure that the child has access to knowledge of his or her origins;
-that the surrogate woman be at least 21 years old, that she can unilaterally and at any time terminate the notarized agreement that binds her to the intended parents;
-that she has 7 to 30 days after the birth to give her consent so that the parentage of the child is established with regard to the intended parents;
-that the intended parents cannot change their mind during gestation.
In interview with The Pressthe Bâtonniere of Quebec, Mand Catherine Claveau, affirms that three amendments to Bill 2 are required in order to ensure the protection of the public.
Universal protection
First, the Bar is asking the Legault government to state that the law applies to all surrogates and intended parents, “whether they sign an agreement or not”. The objective is to ensure universal protection, while there are cases elsewhere in the country where vulnerable people or people with a precarious financial situation resort to surrogacy without signing an agreement beforehand.
Mand Claveau also believes that Quebec must require that the surrogate woman, like the intended parents, meet independently with a legal advisor, in addition to the training already planned with a psychosocial worker. The president finally believes that the agreement between the two parties does not need to be a notarized document.
” [Il faudrait plutôt] a document that is downloaded from the Department of Justice, read, completed and signed in front of two independent witnesses. There are no fees, we have a contract that unites everyone, and which is advised independently [auprès d’un conseiller juridique]. This is the solution that meets our objectives of protecting the public and that covers all people who want to participate in the project so that they are informed, whether they are self-employed or not,” says Ms.and Claveau.
The question of surrogacy invariably creates several debates. A few months ago, the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec (FMSQ) and the Council on the Status of Women (CSF) asked Quebec to require a woman to have been a mother at least once before being able to wear a child for intended parents. The Barreau du Québec affirms for its part that its proposals are part of the objective of protecting the public, but also of preventing the commodification of children and the exploitation of women’s bodies.
Split Bill
The three main opposition parties said on Wednesday that it was unthinkable to adopt all of Bill 2 (which has 360 articles) by the end of the session on June 10. They ask the government to split its legislative brick in order to first adopt the provisions concerning gender identity. These articles respond precisely to a judgment of the Superior Court which invalidated certain articles deemed discriminatory against trans and non-binary people in the Civil Code.
“The Minister has chosen to table a mammoth bill, a reform of family law that has been awaited for years, with four weeks left in the legislature,” lamented Liberal MP Jennifer Maccarone.
“It is the government that has the prerogative to manage its legislative agenda, […] it is therefore the government that has chosen to have the same minister for enormous reforms, ”added his counterpart from Québec solidaire, Alexandre Leduc, in reference to the bill on the French language which occupied Minister Simon Jolin. – Barrette a good part of the spring.
“It will be impossible to succeed in adopting this bill with all the complexity, all the social debates that it entails. […] Our concern is to legislate calmly,” added PQ MNA Véronique Hivon.