{
  "code": "CA-ON",
  "name": "Ontario",
  "last_reviewed": "2026-07",
  "confidence": "high",
  "black_letter": "Ontario\u2019s Children\u2019s Law Reform Act (RSO 1990, c C.12), as modernized by the All Families Are Equal Act, 2016, is among the clearer Canadian provincial parentage regimes. Part I key rules include: s. 5 (provider of reproductive material/embryo for assisted reproduction is not a parent unless another Part I rule applies); s. 6 (birth parent); s. 7 (sexual-intercourse parentage with a statutory written-agreement path for sperm donation via intercourse); s. 8 (spouse of birth parent for assisted-reproduction conception, subject to consent rules). Federal Assisted Human Reproduction Act restricts payment for gametes; parentage is provincial. Always re-read current e-Laws text\u2014subsection numbers for the s. 7 sperm-donor exception should be confirmed on the official page.",
  "ai_informal": "statute_protects",
  "ni": "statute_or_agreement_path",
  "physician_or_clinic_for_safe_harbor": "no",
  "agreement_effect": "statutory_sample_or_strong_intent_evidence",
  "key_citations": [
    {
      "label": "CLRA s. 5 \u2014 AR provider not a parent",
      "url": "https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90c12",
      "quote": "A person who provides reproductive material or an embryo for use in the conception of a child through assisted reproduction is not, and shall not be recognized in law to be, a parent of the child unless he or she is a parent of the child under this Part."
    },
    {
      "label": "CLRA s. 7(4)\u2013(5) \u2014 sexual intercourse / written sperm-donor path",
      "url": "https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90c12",
      "quote": "This section is deemed not to apply to a person whose sperm is used to conceive a child through sexual intercourse if, before the child is conceived, the person and the intended birth parent agree in writing that the person does not intend to be a parent of the child. \u2026 A person to whom subsection (4) applies is not, and shall not be recognized in law to be, a parent of a child conceived in the circumstances set out in that subsection."
    },
    {
      "label": "CLRA s. 8(1) \u2014 spouse of birth parent (AR)",
      "url": "https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90c12",
      "quote": "If the birth parent of a child conceived through assisted reproduction had a spouse at the time of the child's conception, the spouse is, and shall be recognized in law to be, a parent of the child."
    },
    {
      "label": "All Families Are Equal Act, 2016, SO 2016, c 23",
      "url": "https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/16a23"
    },
    {
      "label": "Assisted Human Reproduction Act (federal payment rules)",
      "url": "https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-13.4/"
    }
  ],
  "emerging_law_note": "Section numbers in older secondary summaries (e.g., treating AR donor non-parentage as s. 7(1)) are outdated\u2014current AR non-parent rule is s. 5. Confirm e-Laws before quoting subsections.",
  "page": "/Pages/CA/ON/on.html",
  "region_group": "CA"
}