The Loi portant sur la réforme du droit de la famille en matière de filiation et visant la protection des enfants nés à la suite d’une agression sexuelle et des personnes victimes de cette agression ainsi que les droits des mères porteuses et des enfants issus d’un projet de grossesse pour autrui (2023, chapter 13, hereafter “Bill 13”), also known as the “projet de loi 12 (PL 12)” or Bill 12, was passed on 6 June 2023. It changes the Code civil du Québec (CcQ) to set guidelines for surrogacy, whether the surrogate lives in Quebec or outside of Quebec.

Bill 13 seeks to protect the interests of surrogates and children born through surrogacy. It also defines how filiation between parents and their children is acknowledged. The law includes that, under certain circumstances, the intended parents and the surrogate have to participate to an information session about the psychosocial and ethical impacts of parental projects involving surrogacy. It also includes an obligation to sign a certified agreement before the pregnancy starts.

Bill 13 states that the members of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec (OPQ), the Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec (OTSTCFQ), the Ordre professionnel des sexologues du Québec (OPSQ) and the Ordre des sages-femmes du Québec (OSFQ) are authorized to offer this information session, which the intended parents and the surrogate must attend before they sign the certified agreement. This certified agreement must be signed with a notary who is a member of the Chambre des notaires du Québec (CNQ).

This guide will be useful to notaries, psychologists, social workers, couple and family counsellors, sexologists and midwives, as well as notaries. It will also be of interest to other professionals who may come in contact with such parental projects, such as lawyers and medical staff in assisted reproduction clinics.

Although this guide describes the legal requirements for the recognition of a child’s filiation, it does not address all of the ethical issues that are specific to each profession. We therefore advise professionals to remain alert to any communications from their professional association on this subject. The guide also does not cover the medical aspects of surrogacy, which are already addressed in other guides.