Birth certificates in Canada for non-married partners?

[erthe_mama]

My partner and I aren't married and we're going to be ttc with a known donor. Does anyone know if in Canada (Manitoba specifically) two women can be on the birth certificates as parents? Does it matter whether we're married or not?

Thanks!

[FtMPapa]

In Ontario, there was recently the Parent A, B, C case in which a lesbian couple and a known donor/male coparent or somewhere in between, were all listed as parents.

I don't know if you're interested in that option.

EGALE would know. I doubt you'll find anyone from Manitoba on here, and birth certificates are a provincial issue.

The legal advice I was getting in Ontario (though 3 years or so ago) was to go through with the second parent adoption *anyway* because if something happens outside Canada, especially in a US DOMA state, or possibly in another province, you may have a problem.

[erthe_mama]

Well thank you! That was very helpful. I really should get more up to date with politics and current events...

[Kwynne]

Hi there,

Are you looking to put only the 2 of you on the BC? If so, in Manitoba, it has been legal for many years for you to put your name and your partners name on the statement of live birth as soon as a child is born. Although, as FtMPapa has stated, many lawyers were suggesting you still do the second parent adoption in case you are worried that anyone will challenge your parental status (say, if you think your KD would want to be officially recognized on the BC one day). The 2nd parent adoption has your KD officially wave his parental rights. It does, of course, cost way too much money to do all this, but these are the options.

See here for what happened in Ontario - this has been the case in Manitoba for quite some time.

GL!