QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Health

Minister, welcome.

Last week, the media reported on a particularly disturbing case. A Quebec court ordered a father and his son to immediately cease their practice of making large-scale, unregulated sperm donations. It’s estimated that approximately 600 children were conceived through these donations. This number far exceeds the thresholds recommended by experts to limit serious risks, particularly those related to inbreeding and health.

On the sidelines of his court appearance, one of the men also stated that he intended to move out of Quebec so he could continue donating if the court ordered him to stop.

This troubling case highlights the fact that there is currently no national sperm donor registry, no standardized nationwide traceability requirements, and no oversight framework.

Minister, given this concerning public health issue, which calls for a coordinated approach at the federal level, could you —

I thank the senator for the question. I know that this is a topic that is close to her heart that we have already discussed.

This is something I have discussed with my department. I can’t commit today and say that I will create a registry. Having tried to do this for other issues, I know that developing registries requires a great deal of collaboration and agreement from the provinces and territories, because they are the ones that hold certain data. We are starting to have these discussions with all our partners. I believe this case may give us the leverage we need to advance this cause.