As of today, several Canadian provinces recognize multi-parent families, meaning a child can legally have more than two parents. This includes Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Quebec took a significant step in this direction on April 26, 2025, when the Superior Court issued a landmark ruling in family law. In the case V.M. v. Directeur de l’État civil, 2025 QCCS 1304, the court found that the laws limiting parentage to two parents were discriminatory and violated the right to equality, a fundamental right protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Following this decision, the Quebec government had twelve months to amend its legislation to reflect the court’s conclusions.
Despite this progress, François Legault’s government announced in May 2025 its intention to appeal the ruling. The main argument cited is the concern that recognizing more than two legal parents may not be in the best interest of the child, raising the issue of whether there should be a limit on the number of legal parents a child can have.
This decision to appeal was met with great disappointment by multi-parent families, who had hoped their family structures would finally be recognized by law. For them, the goal is above all to protect their rights and ensure emotional and legal continuity with their child in case of separation, death, or other unforeseen circumstances.
Among these families is a throuple of men who recently succeeded in adopting a young girl through youth protection services. Alexandre and Arnaud*, a couple for 19 years, had submitted an adoption application to the CIUSSS of the Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal. In the meantime, their relationship expanded when they met Émile, with whom they formed a throuple.
When the adoption center followed up on the initial application, the three men explained their family situation. Without even reviewing the file, youth protection services rejected the application outright. Refusing to give up, they turned to the Montérégie center, known for its open-mindedness. After a long and rigorous administrative process, they were able to welcome a little girl. She has already been living with them for several years. The adoption was finalized in September 2025.
However, only Alexandre and Arnaud are legally recognized as the child’s parents. Émile, despite his daily parental role, has no legal status.
This Superior Court ruling showed that the Quebec judicial system was ready, in 2025, to evolve family law to better reflect diverse parental realities. But the question remains: is the Quebec government also ready to support this change and fully recognize multi-parent families, or will it instead choose to hold back this progress in favor of a more rigid vision of parenthood?
We now await the Court of Appeal’s decision, and who knows, the case may eventually reach the Supreme Court of Canada.
For more details on the throuple’s case, you can read the article in La Presse here.
*All names in the case have been changed to protect the child’s identity.
