Child Has Two Moms and a Dad: Supreme Court of Canada Refuses To Hear Appeal

The Supreme Court of Canada has refused several Christian groups' application for leave to appeal a landmark January decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, which held that a London, Ontario boy legally has two mothers and a father.

The Supreme Court's Reasons for Judgment are here.

Our previous post on this case, with extensive excerpts from last January's Court of Appeal decision, is here.

The case was originally brought by the same-sex partner of the boy's biological mother, who asked the Court to grant her a declaration of parentage of the boy.

As the child's biological mother remains alive, the court was thus asked to find as a matter of law that the child has three parents - two mothers and a father.

In its decision, the Appeal Court acknowledged that the request was without precedent. Nonetheless, it granted the declaration, finding that to do so was ultimately in the best interests of the boy.

Christian groups had sought to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. They had previously intervened in the Ontario appeal court proceeding.

London Free Press has today's story on the Supreme Court of Canada's refusal to hear the further appeal:

A London boy can have three parents -- two lesbians and the man who fathered their child -- after Canada's top court this week set aside a challenge from conservative Christian groups.

The Supreme Court of Canada refused to consider the appeal, writing the groups couldn't challenge a landmark decision by Ontario's highest court, which had declared the child had a third legal parent, the lesbian who hadn't given birth but assumed a maternal role.

While the Christian groups were allowed to argue before the Ontario Court of Appeal, once its declaration was made, only the parents and Ontario's attorney general could challenge it and neither did, the Supreme Court decided.

"(The coalition of Christian groups) is certainly concerned about the impact of that judgment. Nevertheless, it was merely an intervener in the Court of Appeal . . . to defend its view of the development of family law, but it had no specific interest in the outcome of the litigation," the court wrote.

...the Court... decided the Christians groups had no standing to appeal.

The London parents, identified by letters in court documents to protect their child, asked the courts to declare a third parent in 2003.

"I have two moms and a daddy," the boy said outside the London courthouse as the proceedings began that year.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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