The ''Act respecting family law reform with regard to filiation and amending the Civil Code in relation to personality rights and civil status'' (Bill 2, 2021) is a proposed law in the province of

Québec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

, which would bring several changes to family law, legal recognition law, and name change law in the province.

Summary

The bill would introduce a requirement for people wishing to change the sex assigned on their birth certificates to undergo genital surgery, as well as allowing people to add a new section to their birth certificates titled "Gender," which would include the possibility of a third non-male or female gender. The bill would additionally require intersex people to "apply for a change of designation of sex" as soon as possible. The law would also create a legal framework for surrogate pregnancies, putting in place a requirement for a completed surrogacy agreement before the onset of pregnancy. It would also include provisions placing a minimum age of 21 for surrogate mothers, would allow surrogate mothers to be compensated for expenses (but not otherwise paid), a requirement for participants to attend an ethical and psychosocial information session, and would allow surrogate mothers to end the contract without risk of a lawsuit. The law would also allow the survivors of the

Canadian Indian residential school system The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by various Christian churches. The sch ...

who had their names forcibly changed and their descents to change their names to a traditional Indigenous name without cost.

Legislative history

The bill was introduced to the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...

Simon Jolin-Barrette Simon Jolin-Barrette (born 1987) is a Canadian lawyer and politician in Quebec. He was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2014 Quebec election. He represents the riding of Borduas as a member of the Coalition Avenir Québec ...

, the

Coalition Avenir Québec The Coalition Avenir Québec (, , CAQ) is a Quebec nationalism, Quebec nationalist, Autonomism in Quebec, autonomist and conservatism, conservative

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

on 21 October 2021.

Reactions

The bill's provisions on legal gender recognition attracted widespread concern. Members of the trans community expressed fears that it would return Québec to the legal gender recognition laws that existed before 2015, could forcibly out trans people (if they chose to add the "gender" option instead of applying to change the "sex" field), and could potentially lead to people being forced into having surgery in order to change the contents of the "sex" field. Celeste Trianon of the Centre for Gender Advocacy at Concordia University argued that the bill was "attempting to reintroduce a sterilizing surgical requirement," calling it "a direct attack on the trans community."

Manon Massé Manon Massé (born 22 May 1963) is a Canadian politician in Quebec and was one of co-spokespersons for Québec solidaire from 2017 to 2023. She has represented Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques in the National Assembly of Quebec since the 2014 ...

Québec solidaire Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

co-leader, said that her party still needed to review the entirety of the bill, but that it appeared like it would move Québec "backwards in terms of the rights of trans, intersex and non-binary people."

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; , PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has traditionally supported a form of Quebec federalist ideology with nuance ...

LGBT+ spokesperson

Jennifer Maccarone Jennifer Maccarone is a Canadian politician in the province of Quebec. Maccarone was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2018 provincial election. She represents the electoral district of Westmount–Saint-Louis as a member of the ...

stated that the provisions were a "regressive change."

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links