{"id":261986,"date":"2020-07-17T01:30:41","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T05:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=261986"},"modified":"2020-07-17T01:30:41","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T05:30:41","slug":"canada-changes-definition-of-parent-for-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/07\/17\/canada-changes-definition-of-parent-for-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada changes definition of \u201cparent\u201d for the 21st century"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The children of LGBTQ2+ couples as well as couples with fertility issues are now on the same playing field as the biological children of Canadians. (Pexels photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A loophole in Canadian Citizenship law that prevented some parents from passing on citizenship to their children has been closed to support the needs of modern families.
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Canadian citizenship law is catching up with the times after Quebec Superior Court ruled that the non-biological, legal children of Canadians can have the same citizenship rights as biological children.<\/p>\n

The change applies to children who were born through assisted human reproduction, such as surrogacy arrangements undertaken by Canadian citizens. It means that same-sex couples and couples who have fertility issues who used surrogacy can pass on citizenship rights to their children as long as one legal parent is Canadian. It does not apply to adopted children, who go through a different process to get Canadian citizenship.<\/p>\n

Before the Quebec Superior Court\u2019s ruling last week, children of parents who used assisted reproduction fell through a loophole in Canadian citizenship law that only granted automatic citizenship to children who were born abroad and biologically connected to one or both of their Canadian parents.<\/p>\n

This left out parents like\u00a0Elsje van der Ven and Laurence Caron<\/a>, who won a long-fought court battle last week to grant citizenship to their son, Benjamin. He was denied citizenship because his Canadian parent, Caron, was not his biological mother, even though she is legally his parent and married to his biological mother, van der Ven. Ironically, Caron\u2019s biological daughter, Anna, was also born in the Netherlands but she was\u00a0automatically granted citizenship under the antiquated definition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Citizenship Act\u2019s new definition of \u201cparent\u201d now encompasses both biological children of Canadians, and children who were born abroad and have a legal parent-child relationship at birth but no biological link.<\/p>\n

Who is eligible for citizenship by descent?<\/h3>\n

Canada\u2019s new definition of \u201cparent\u201d includes those who have been recognized as their child\u2019s legal parent at birth. These Canadian parents can pass down citizenship with or without a genetic link to their children who were born abroad. Canada will recognize them as \u201clegal\u201d parents if their name appears on:<\/p>\n