The legal andjurisprudential evolution of the Quebec civil law on filiation has been dynamicand avant-garde in these last few years, introducing new principles to definehow filiation is established, which are quite distant from the classic bloodties which we believe normally circumscribe it. Despite this modern and elasticapproach, recent technological and social innovations have been presenting evermore complex challenges for the courts to adjudicate upon, which wereheretofore unknown.

In fact, there aremany situations faced by same-sex couples, particularly male couples, or bypersons donating gametes, which are still today in a grey zone of dubiouslegitimacy. Moreover, the rapid advances in techniques of medically assistedreproduction create newer complexities that still await the reaction of thelegislator.

The juxtapositionof the two existing juridical paradigms, one based on sociological realitiesintended to respond to social needs, and one based on biological innovations,will frame this discussion. How will the Quebec civil law deal with theevolution of same-sex parenting, particularly for male-male couples; thepossibilities of multiple contributors to the «projet parental»; the risksassociated with «monoparentalité» «triparentalité», or, more frightening yet, «pluriparentalité»;and the resolution, at least partial, of the problem of surrogate mothers?