Directeur de l'état civil: The need to apply the relevant provisions of the Civil Code of Québec

The Complaint

The parents of a baby girl appealed to the Ombudsman after the Directeur de l’état civil (registrar of civil status) refused to register the surname they had chosen for their child.

The parents are of foreign origin and were married outside Canada at the beginning of the 2000s. Following their marriage, the mother of the child, as is the custom in their community of origin, took a feminized inflection of the father’s surname as her own. Feminization consists, in certain cultures, of adding an “a” to the end of a masculine surname. These citizens have lived in Canada for almost 10 years and now have a second daughter to whom they wanted to give the feminized inflection of the father’s surname, or, in other words, the mother’s surname. The Directeur de l’état civil refused to comply.

The Investigation

• The Civil Code of Québec (article 51) states that: A child is given, as his mother and father choose, one or more given names and a surname composed of not more than two of the surnames composing his parents' surnames.
• The Directeur de l’état civil considered that the feminized inflection of the father’s surname was not legally the mother’s surname. According to the Directeur, it was only a name of use.
• When examining the request, the Directeur de l’état civil had a copy of the couple’s marriage certificate, translated by a certified translator, which included details about the names of each spouse.
• The Directeur also possessed a copy of the child’s Declaration of Birth, which indicated the parents’ choice of surname.
• The Directeur de l’état civil changed the child’s surname to the father’s surname, or, in other words, the masculine inflection, which, according to the customs of the citizens’ community of origin, does not make sense for a girl.
• According to the Directeur de l’état civil, it was impossible to modify the register in accordance with the parents’ request unless the parents went through the administrative process of a name change. This process costs more than $350 which the couple refused to pay.

The Québec Ombudsman’s conclusions

Considering these facts, the Ombudsman recommended that the Directeur de l’état civil:

• apply article 51 of the Civil Code of Québec, modify its procedures in order to allow affected children to be given their mother’s legal surname and, consequently, modify its register.

The Directeur de l’état civil agreed to act on the Québec Ombudsman’s recommendation. The surname as chosen by the parents was registered on the child’s birth certificate.