BRIEF LEGAL ARGUMENT
British Columbia's /Adoption Act/ and the regulations which implement it, require those responsible for facilitating adoptions to obtain as much information as possible about the medical and social history of the child's biological family and to preserve that information for the adopted child. The legislation further requires: (i) that records relating to the identity of the biological parents of an adoptee must be preserved and (ii) that each adoptee, upon turning 19, has the opportunity to learn the identity of his or her biological parents. There is no corresponding provincial legislation with respect to the recording, preserving, or granting of access to information about the biological parents of children conceived by way of gamete donation.
This modern approach with respect to adoption was a marked departure from the legislation which it replaced, in which the identity of the birth parents of adoptees was shrouded in secrecy. The change came about because society had recognized that a more open adoption procedure was in the best interests of the adopted children. Information about their genetic heritage might be necessary to prevent, treat, or detect potential genetic disorders, diseases or conditions. Furthermore, many adopted children suffered psychological distress and/or had difficulty in forging an identity as a result of being cut off from their genetic heritage. Finally many adoptees were concerned that they might unwittingly become the sexual partner of someone to whom they were biologically related. Each of these concerns applies equally to the children of gamete donors.
The legislature's failure to extend the legislative regime with respect to the creation, storage and accessing of records regarding biological parents of adoptees, to children who do not know a biological parent because they were conceived by way of gamete donation unfairly discriminates against them. It thereby violates their right to equality guaranteed under s.15 of the /Charter of Rights and Freedoms/. Since this failure puts the medical and psychological health of children of gamete donors at risk, it also violates their /Charter/ right to security of person.