Baby Making: Fertility Law and Assisted Reproductive Technologies 2016


Course Date: April 8, 2016

Total: 5h 33min

Welcome and Introduction

Michelle Kinney — Cassels Murray, Victoria
Zara Suleman — Suleman Family Law, North Vancouver

Baby Steps to Making Babies: What You Need to Know About the Fertility Clinic Process and Non-Clinic Options

  • the fertility clinic process from initial consultation to conception
  • medical consents, intake process, and costs
  • role of nurses and nurse coordinators
  • counselling support and psychological/emotional considerations 
  • personal accounts of choosing to use a fertility clinic vs. non-clinic process
  • non-clinic options and considerations

Facilitator: Zara Suleman — Suleman Family Law, North Vancouver
Tracey Anderson — Nurse/Manager, Donor Egg/Gestational Surrogacy Program Coordinator, Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine (PCRM), Burnaby
Dr. Jon Havelock — Co-Director, Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine (PCRM), Burnaby
Monique Shebbeare — Monique Shebbeare Law Corporation, Vancouver
Holly Yager, MEd, RCC, CCC — Registered Clinical Counsellor, Well Woman Counselling, Vancouver

Networking Break

The Law 101: Legal Framework

  • overview of Part 3, Parentage, of the Family Law Act
  • overview of the Federal Assisted Human Reproduction Act
  • short history of parentage and fertility laws and the Uniform Law Conference of Canada Uniform Child Status Act
  • legal status of genetic material
  • wills and estates considerations
  • FLA and WESA
  • a view from the east—comparison with Ontario

Lynda Cassels — Cassels Murray, Victoria
Sara R. Cohen — D2Law LLP, Toronto
Michelle Kinney — Cassels Murray, Victoria

Making Legal Parents—Vital Statistics and the Registration Process

  • birth registration process
  • just the facts—statistics
  • problems, trends, and tips

Facilitator: Lynda Cassels — Cassels Murray, Victoria
Ingrid Bloomfield — Regional Manager, Vital Statistics Agency, Kelowna

Networking Lunch

It's a Big World—Money and Borders

  • jurisdictional issues when intended parent(s), gametes, donors, and surrogates are not all in BC
  • which law applies to use of gametes, financial arrangements, birth registration, legal parentage, and other issues
  • reimbursement, not remuneration—what payments are legal in Canada
  • purchase and importation of frozen sperm and ova
  • importation of donated embryos

Facilitator: Monique Shebbeare — Monique Shebbeare Law Corporation, Vancouver
Sara R. Cohen — D2Law LLP, Toronto
Lawrence A. Kahn, QC — Kahn Zack Ehrlich Lithwick LLP, Richmond

Networking Break

Preconceptions—Agreements and Ethical Considerations

  • when agreements are required under the FLA and how long they have to last
  • planning considerations: breakup or death
  • surrogacy agreements
  • donor insemination agreements, ova donation agreements, and embryo agreements
  • multi-parent agreements
  • when things go south
  • ethical considerations

Sara R. Cohen — D2Law LLP, Toronto
Lawrence A. Kahn, QC — Kahn Zack Ehrlich Lithwick LLP, Richmond
Monique Shebbeare — Monique Shebbeare Law Corporation, Vancouver

Prognostications and Wild Speculation: What in the World Can We Expect?

Michelle Kinney — Cassels Murray, Victoria
Zara Suleman — Suleman Family Law, North Vancouver

Closing Remarks

Michelle Kinney — Cassels Murray, Victoria
Zara Suleman — Suleman Family Law, North Vancouver