In 2020, Canada made it so legal parents can pass down citizenship to their foreign-born children, a move that made the Citizenship Act more equal.
June is Pride Month, a time to celebrate diversity in gender and sexuality and recognize the unique struggles faced by marginalized groups. Although Canadian law now stipulates it is illegal to discriminate against people based on sexual orientation and sex, sometimes same-sex, gender-diverse, and intersex couples still fall through the cracks. For instance, up until two years ago, Canadian same-sex couples and couples with fertility issues had a particular loophole to jump through if they had children overseas. Same-sex marriages have been legal in Canada since 2005. But before July 2020, Canadians had to be biological parents in order to pass down citizenship to their foreign-born children. That was until the Superior Court of Quebec ruled that legal parents of foreign-born children could also be included in the Citizenship Act’s definition of “parent.” This ruling would allow same-sex couples to pass down citizenship regardless which partner shared a genetic link with their child. The case was headed by Elsje van der Ven and Laurence Caron, who fought and won the ability to get citizenship for their son.