Norton Rose Fulbright advocates for legal recognition of multiparent families in Quebec

Our Montreal team, led by Michel Bélanger-Roy, Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly and Briana Fragapane, in collaboration with McCarthy Tétrault, recently won a landmark pro bono case for the LGBT+ Family Coalition and two families in a quest for legal recognition of multiparent families in Quebec.

Multiparent families consist of more than two parents who decide to have and raise children together, sometimes in the context of assisted reproduction. Until now, the Quebec government limited legal recognition to a maximum of two parents, leaving the others without a clear status towards their children. As a result, multiparent families faced significant challenges in terms of parental authority, rights, and responsibilities towards their shared children. Unlike Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan already recognize multiparent families under certain conditions.

On April 25, 2025, the Superior Court of Quebec ruled that certain articles of the Civil Code of Québec currently limit the number of parents with whom a child can establish a filiation to two and held that these articles are unconstitutional as they violate paragraph 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides for equality before and under the law. The court  found that the Civil Code of Québec creates a distinction between multiparent families and biparent families by denying legal recognition for all of a child’s parents in multiparent families. The court also found that this distinction was based on family status, an analogous and prohibited ground of discrimination. Family status is defined as the belonging of an individual to a particular family model, including a multiparent family. As a result of the decision, the National Assembly of Québec now has twelve months to modify the Civil Code to recognize multiparent families.

“We are proud to have represented the LGBT+ Family Coalition and the two families on a pro bono basis in this important fight for equality,” said Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly. “Nowadays, not all families follow a single model. They deserve to be recognized and protected by the law, and this judgment represents a significant step forward for diversity,” said Michel Bélanger Roy.