Polyamorous parents win recognition in N.L. court

Judge notes changing family structures

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A court in Newfoundland and Labrador has recognized three unmarried adults as the legal parents of a child born within their “polyamorous” family.

Polyamorous relationships are legal in Canada, unlike bigamy and polygamy, which involve people in two or more marriages. In this case, the St. John’s family includes two men in a relationship with the mother of a child born in 2017.

“Society is continuously changing and family structures are changing along with it,” says the decision, by Justice Robert Fowler of the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court’s family division.

It’s not the first time a Canadian court has recognized that a family can have three legally recognized parents. In 2007, for example, the Ontario Court of Appeal recognized two women in a relationship as the mothers of a child whose biological father was already deemed a legal parent.

But the three adults in that case were not in a relationship. The three people in the Newfoundland case turned to the courts after the province said only two parents could be listed on the child’s birth certificate.

In his decision, Fowler said his decision hinged on what was in the best interests of the child.

Fowler said the child was born into a stable, loving family that has provided a safe and nurturing environment.