Quebec to appeal court decision recognizing multi-parent families

Montreal Gazette

29-05-2025

By
Quebec will seek to avoid legal recognition for multi-parent families, Justice Minister and Attorney General Simon Jolin-Barrette has confirmed.
Speaking to reporters ahead of question period in the National Assembly on Thursday morning, Jolin-Barrette said Quebec 'made the choice' to limit legally recognized families to two parents and the province would appeal a Superior Court decision striking down that limit.
The April 25 judgment ordered the province to amend its Civil Code to allow equal recognition for families with more than two parents. The applicants, whose names are under a publication ban, are three families with three parents each. In his ruling, Justice Andres Garin found that by refusing to legally recognize each parent, Quebec had violated the families' Canadian charter rights to equal protection and benefit of the law.
But Jolin-Barrette asserted Thursday that recognizing multi-parent families could harm children.
'Having more than two parents could have important consequences for the child,' he said, including in cases of separation. 'I don't think it's in the interest of the child to have four, five, six, seven, eight parents.'
'I don't remember that referendum,' in which Quebecers chose to exclude multi-parent families from legal recognition, said Mona Greenbaum, founder of the LGBT Family Coalition, an intervener in the legal challenge.
Nobody is asking the province to recognize eight parents, Greenbaum said. While the case pertained to families with three parents, she said the organization would like to see a law recognize families with up to four parents, as was done in Ontario.
'It's not a question of whether we should allow these families to exist. They're already here,' she said.
Most are made up of a couple and one other person or two couples, she said, though some involve polyamorous relationships. Many include LGBTQ+ parents.
When dynamics between the parents are healthy, Greenbaum said legal recognition is less important.
'But sometimes things break down,' she said.
In those cases, non-recognized parents can lose the ability to see their children and face no obligation to pay child support. Both issues risk harming their children, she said.
'Our priority is the kids.'
Jolin-Barrette said he, too, is acting in the interests of children, and family breakdowns could have more severe consequences when more parents are involved.
'Pretending that you're doing the kids a service by not protecting their families, it's completely wrong,' Greenbaum said, adding that two-parent families also experience separation.
'Maybe we should bar couples' from parental rights, too, she mused. 'Should we do that?'
With Quebec now choosing to challenge the case, Greenbaum said she wouldn't be surprised if it eventually lands in the Supreme Court.
'There aren't tons' of multi-parent families in the province, she said, adding that it is difficult to get a clear sense of the number. 'But the government is going to invest quite a lot of money to bring this to appeal.
'While we're waiting for it to get up to that level, these families are unprotected,' she said.
The families involved in the challenge 'are very, very disappointed because they feel that they're being discriminated against. And they are.'