Act 2 cut from substance on surrogate mothers: opposition blames Jolin-Barrette

The other day, Minister Jolin-Barrette announced that he would have to cut complete sections of his extensive family law reform, consolidated in Bill 2, for fear it would completely die off the order paper in June. 10, the day of the end of the parliamentary. work.

Excluded on Wednesday: the parts of the bill that relate to the rules of filiation and those that should provide a legal framework for agreements concluded between the intended parents and the surrogate mothers, called surrogacy.

As a precaution, since only a few days of work remained, the minister preferred to split his law, set aside a few articles, to ensure that the parts of the reform already studied and endorsed by the opposition could adopt before the due date. , thus avoiding seeing months of work on the side of the road.

He alone is to blamePQ MNA Véronique Hivon commented, in a telephone interview, especially since the Minister of Justice is also the head of the parliamentary government, therefore the one who manages the calendar that sets the study of bills and the one that refers to legislative priorities.

Articles to be accepted next week are those that discuss sexual identity, gender issues and the identification of non -binary people.

The opposition was partially satisfied

Opposition parties were relieved on Thursday to learn that at least these chapters of reform would escape the guillotine.

I am pleased that the minister accepted our arguments and justificationsadded Ms. Hivon. This is a matter of priority., United representative Alexandre Leduc argued for his part, in a press scrum. He believes that Minister Jolin-Barrette, who should also manage the very demanding French language file, there was too much on his plate.

” He was staged as a one-man band. Obviously, it didn’t work well. There are repercussions and one of them is the semi-failure of family law. “

The fact that the Minister undertook two major reforms at the same time, two large pieces of lawsaid Mr. Leduc, Bill 101, with Bill 96 being adopted, and family law, with Bill 2, which has more than 360 articles, worried opposition at first.

Spokesmen of the three opposition parties believe he has given priority to language reform, which puts family law at risk.

” He chose to study Bill 96 before considering the family law reform bill. If he had done things the opposite, we would probably have made more progress in family law. That’s his priority, that’s his choice. “

Everyone agrees that it took a long time for the minister to table his bill on October 21 and then proceed with consideration of each clause in mid-May.

It is written in heaven that we cannot come, believes Ms. Hivon, because of the heavy cargo, addresses complex issues and limited the number of work weeks. But until Wednesday night, Mr. Jolin-Barrette always insisted that elected officials had all the time necessary to finish studying the bill before adjournment.

Extensive reforms often require weeks, or even months, of review by a parliamentary committee.

Ms. wants. Hivon that the government examine its lack of respect for institutions.

The next government, to be elected on October 3, will have to continue the whole process for questions set aside, and opposition parties want this to be an opportunity for real consultation on sensitive social issues. The planned family law reform also includes the revision of the rules of conjugality, particularly the issue of the rights and obligations of de facto spouses in relation to spouses.

Changes to the Civil Code

Bill 2, which would amend the Civil Code, aims to update family law, which has frozen in time since the early 1980s, as mores have evolved since then.

The Minister of Justice had no choice but to legislate on the particular gender issue, as he had to abide by the Superior Court ruling, issued by Judge Gregory Moore on January 28, 2021 and rendered certain articles of the Civil Code null and void. , considered discrimination. That’s why he doesn’t have to request a new extension to comply.

According to this decision, Quebec must ensure that all forms of discrimination related to the assignment of gender in documents produced by the Registrar of Civil Status are eliminated. We should no longer force someone to identify themselves as male or female. It is also necessary to add the possibility of registration of mention of the parent, rather than father or mother, when writing a child’s birth certificate.

In addition to questions about gender and reproductive administration for others, Bill 2 intervenes on many other topics, including the number of first names in official documents, the rules of filiation, including assumptions of paternity for de facto spouses, information disclosed to adopted children, the rights of the child to grow up in a home marked by violence, questions of parental authority in case of violence and loss of this authority, as well as the right of the child born of a surrogate mother to knowledge of its origins.