De-Anonymising Sperm Donors in Canada

Some Doubts and Directions

Authors

  • Angela Cameron University of Ottawa
  • Vanessa Gruben University of Ottawa
  • Fiona Kelly La Trobe University Law School

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14393/RFADIR-50.1.2022.66437.4-54

Keywords:

Canada

Abstract

This paper addresses whether sperm donor anonymity should continue in Canada and what the effects might be of abolishing anonymity, particularly for marginalized groups such as lesbian mothers. The first part of the paper outlines the legislative and historical context surrounding the donor anonymity debate in Canada. The second part of the paper addresses the interests of the various social and legal stakeholders, including donor conceived offspring, the social and biological parents of those offspring, and sperm donors. The final segment outlines a twofold law reform agenda. First, it is proposed that Canada prospectively abolish donor anonymity in an effort to meet the health and psychological needs of donor conceived children. Second, it is recommended that legal parentage laws be simultaneously amended so that the legal vulnerabilities women-led families currently experience, and which would be exacerbated by the de-anonymizing of donors, are removed.

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Author Biographies

Angela Cameron, University of Ottawa

Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa - Canada, since 2008. She received her LL.B. from Dalhousie University in 1998, and was admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1999. She received her L.L.M. from the University of British Columbia in 2003 and her Doctorate from the University of Victoria in 2012. She was an SSHRC Doctoral Fellow, and a President’s Research Scholar at the University of Victoria.

Vanessa Gruben, University of Ottawa

Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa - Canada. She holds a LLM from Columbia University, and an LLB from the University of Ottawa (common law). She clerked for Chief Justice Richard of the Federal Court of Appeal and then Justice Bastarache of the Supreme Court of Canada. She  is an accredited lawyer in Ontario, Canada, since 2003. She has appeared on behalf of Amnesty International Canada before the Supreme Court of Canada in Charkaoui v. Canada, [2007] 1 S.C.R. 350;Charkaoui v. Canada, [2008] 2 S.C.R. 326; and Khadr v. Canada, [2010] SCC 3 and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. She is also a member of the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board and the Health Services Appeal and Review Board.

Fiona Kelly, La Trobe University Law School

Dean of La Trobe University Law School, Australia. She holds a PhD and a LLM from UBC. She also holds a BA and a LLB with honors from Melbourne University, Australia. Former professor at UBC (Canada) and at the University of Melbourne (Australia). She clerked at the Family Court of Australia, and worked as a Research Officer at the Australian Institute of Family Studies. 

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Published

2022-12-12

How to Cite

Cameron, A., Gruben, V., & Kelly, F. (2022). De-Anonymising Sperm Donors in Canada: Some Doubts and Directions. Journal of the Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Uberlândia, 50(1), 4–54. https://doi.org/10.14393/RFADIR-50.1.2022.66437.4-54

Issue

Vol. 50 No. 1 (2022): Journal of the Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Uberlândia

Section

Invited Authors

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Journal of the Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Uberlândia

Creative Commons License

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