The Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, had to impose a slimming cure on his reform of the Civil Code to include non-binary people in the law. He finally had his bill passed on Tuesday, a few days before the end of the legislature.
Bill 2 “on the reform of family law in terms of filiation and amending the Civil Code in terms of personality rights and civil status” passed the last stage of the legislative process when parliamentarians voted in favor of its adoption on Tuesday evening. It will allow non-binary people to spell out their gender identity on civil status documents, such as their birth certificate.
The saga leading to the adoption of the bill was not easy. By filing his imposing reform in October, Minister Jolin-Barrette said he was only taking his first steps. Bill 2, which tackled the issues of gender identity, filiation and surrogacy, only touched on a section of family law, without even touching on marital law.
The elected representative of the Coalition avenir Québec has undertaken to legislate to review this portion of the Act. However, the first part of his reform has long been in danger: after tabling Bill 2, the minister faced several criticisms from the LGBTQ + community because the original law threatened to impose organ-modifying surgery. genitals to people who wanted to change their sex designation in civil law. It also created a risk of coming out forced” for trans and non-binary people, organizations have argued.
Claiming to have “heard” the grievances of the community, Minister Jolin-Barrette has pledged to rewrite his bill in November. Legislative cork obliges, it is only in May that the articles were officially modified.
Bushy, with its 360 articles, the bill had little chance of being adopted by the end of the session on Friday, argued the opposition parties in Quebec. Mr. Jolin-Barrette finally decided at the last minute to split it. The portion of the reform concerning the call for surrogate mothers will be redeposited when the elections return, he promises.
As passed, the slimmed-down Bill 2 allows Quebec to stick to a judgment rendered earlier this year by the Superior Court of Quebec. In his decision, Judge Gregory Moore asserted that the current provisions of the Civil Code “prevent [nt] that the gender identity of transgender or non-binary people who are domiciled in Quebec is reflected in identity documents”.
“Law 2” will also allow the term “parent” – rather than “father” or “mother” – to appear on birth certificates. It will also require courts to consider family violence, including spousal abuse, in decisions about children. It will add to the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms a “right to knowledge of origins” for children adopted or resulting from surrogacy.