In a landmark decision that redefines the legal framework for parenthood in Quebec, Superior Court has given the provincial government 12 months to amend the Civil Code to introduce a new system of filiation that would make it possible to legally recognize more than two parents for the same child.
The ruling, described by lawyers who successfully pled the case as a “very important for the development” of family law in Quebec, held that the provisions of the Civil Code that limit filiation to two parents is discriminatory and violates the right to equality guaranteed by section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter. Quebec Superior Court Justice Andres Garin found that it is “appropriate” to recognize family status “in the sense of belonging to a particular family model, including a multi-parent family” as an analogous ground of prohibited discrimination enumerated in s. 15(1) of the Canadian Charter – and that such discrimination could not be justified under s. 1 of the Charter. Membership, added Justice Garin, in a particular family model is an immutable personal characteristic.
“Ultimately, the limit of two parent-child relationships sends the message to multi-parent families and to society in general that only so-called ‘normal’ families, with a maximum of two parents, represent valid family structures worthy of legal recognition,” held Justice Garin in V.M. c. Directeur de l’État civil, 2025 QCCS 1304. “This message reinforces and perpetuates the disadvantage suffered by those who live in a non-traditional family model. Ultimately, the difference in treatment is discriminatory and violates the right to equality guaranteed by s. 15(1) of the Canadian Charter.”
The Quebec government has announced that it will appeal the decision.