Quebec bill aims to protect rape victims from forced paternity tests
CTV
Quebec's Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette tabled a new bill on Thursday that would refuse the right of rapists to demand paternity tests for the offspring of their crimes.
Quebec's justice minister tabled a new bill Thursday that would deny rapists the right to demand paternity tests for any children born of their crimes.
In explaining Bill 12, Simon Jolin-Barrette said rape victims who gave birth to a child as a result of the crime can oppose a paternity request.
"Now the mother of the child that comes from that [rape] will be able to get an opposition to the paternity of the child," said Jolin-Barrette.
The justice minister said he was partly motivated to table the bill because of the case of "Oceane," a woman who came forward in 2022 after the man convicted of raping of her sought to claim paternity of the child.
"Everybody in Quebec was shocked last summer when we heard that a guy raped a girl and asked to be recognized as his father," he said. "Right now, in the civil code, the courts didn't have a choice."
He said that the tribunal is currently required to recognize when a rapist is the proven father of a child.
"To declare you as a father," said Jolin-Barrette. "We don't want that to happen again, so we changed the law... We gave clearly the choice to the mother... The mother will be able to say, 'No, I don't want that guy to be involved in the life of my child.'"
