(Quebec) People who consider themselves neither men nor women will now be able, in all legality, to tick the “X” box on the official documents provided by the Quebec government, without having to first go through the scalpel. Those who appear non-binary when giving birth to a child can, if they wish, identify themselves as the “parent”, rather than the father or mother of their baby.
Posted at 6:22 p.m.
This is stipulated in Law 2, adopted Tuesday in the National Assembly. The controversial bill, led by the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, was tabled in October 2021, with a view to carrying out an in-depth reform of family law, which had not been upgraded. for about forty years, while mores have changed a lot since then.
The new law, complex, imposing, addresses a host of social subjects, often delicate, and it had to cast an even wider net. Observing that there would be a lack of time to complete the process before the adjournment of parliamentary work on June 10, the minister had decided last week to withdraw two important aspects of his reform: the rules of filiation and the whole question supervision of surrogacy, i.e. contracts entered into between intended parents and surrogate mothers.
If he had not done so, he was in serious danger of seeing his bill, a brick of more than a hundred pages containing some 360 articles, die on the order paper.
The Minister had no choice but to legislate now, at least on the issue of gender identity and the recognition of non-binary people. He had to comply with the Moore judgment and had in principle until December 31, 2021 to do so, but had to request an extension of the deadline until June 17.
Initially, Minister Jolin-Barrette wanted to impose genital surgery on anyone who wanted to see the sex designation changed on their official papers. Faced with the ensuing outcry in the LGBTQ community, which equated this position with forced “coming out”, the minister had backed down and removed the controversial articles.
The judgment of the Superior Court, delivered by Judge Gregory Moore on January 28, 2021, rendered null and void several articles of the Civil Code deemed to be discriminatory. According to him, Quebec should ensure that all forms of discrimination relating to the designation of gender in the documents issued by the Registrar of Civil Status are eliminated. We should no longer force someone to identify as male or female. It was also necessary to add the possibility of registering the mention of parent, instead of father or mother, when writing the birth certificate of a child.
At all stages of the process, the opposition parties criticized Minister Jolin-Barrette for having delayed too long in tabling his bill and allowing enough time for serious clause-by-clause consideration. They considered this situation all the more deplorable since the Minister of Justice is also the House leader of the government, therefore the one who sets legislative priorities and manages the work schedule. They had less than four weeks to review the piece of legislation.
Minister Jolin-Barrette’s way of doing things in this file has been “lamentable”, according to Liberal MP Jennifer Maccarone. In her final remarks ahead of the bill’s passage, she insisted that many in the LGBTQ community will be disappointed to find that several aspects of the reform had to be set aside due to the management of parliamentary business. .
“They waited three and a half years to start work,” added PQ MP Véronique Hivon, also disappointed with the turn of events.
Along with the language reform recently overseen by the new Bill 96, the reform of family law was one of the main bills orchestrated this year by Mr. Jolin-Barrette and, in fact, by the government as a whole.
At the time of adoption, late Tuesday afternoon, the minister was absent in the House. He had to manage the study of another of his bills, the 34, on better access to justice, in another room.
The next government, which will be elected on October 3, will therefore have to resume the whole process relating to the questions put aside, in particular the delicate file of surrogate mothers. Currently, the agreements concluded between them and the intended parents have no legal value. Opposition women MPs also expressed concern about the issue of the commodification of women’s bodies.
The planned reform of family law was also to include a revision of the rules of conjugality, in particular the question of the rights and obligations of de facto spouses, compared to married couples.
This vast reform of family law, expected for years, was based on an extensive report on the issue produced by the law professor at the University of Montreal Alain Roy, in 2015, a report which had been shelved at the time. by the Liberal government. The report was essentially centered on the child, his interests, and his absolute right to know his origins, whatever the circumstances of his conception.
For example, whether children are adopted or conceived through assisted procreation, their right to know their story will be enshrined in the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
When a court decision is likely to have an impact on a child, law 2 adopted on Tuesday stipulates that if there is a climate of family or conjugal violence, this must be taken into account.
To ensure that all children are equal before the law, in the case of de facto spouses with children, Law 2 provides that there is automatically a “presumption of paternity”, as for married couples. Previously, if a man died during the pregnancy of his spouse, he could only be recognized as a parent by court judgment.