How should Quebec's family law be modernized? The government wants your opinion

The Quebec government is holding public consultations aimed at getting the public's opinion on how the province's family law should be modernized.

Justice Minister Sonia LeBel says the current law is not in tune with reality. Quebec's family laws were last updated in 1980, she explained, and were based on the premise that couples were getting married, then having children.

"Right now in Quebec, this is reversed," she told CBC Montreal's Daybreak. About 60 per cent of children born in the province are born to unwed parents, she said.

"We have to look at that, we have to reflect on that and decide what do we want, how to we trigger obligations toward people, how do we take care of our children?"

The proposals on the table right now put children first, she said. Spousal obligations would be triggered once there are children in the picture, not once the couple gets married.

Representatives from the Justice Ministry will travel to 10 cities across the province in May and early June, starting in Gatineau on Friday, to hear from those who wish to voice their opinions.

• Here's a full list of the consultation dates and locations 

For those who wish to send a brief outlining their position to the government, the deadline is June 28.

Second round of consultation

Some groups say these consultations aren't needed because they've already been done — for two years, Alain Roy, a law professor at the University of Montreal, presided over a committee tasked with the exact same mandate.

Roy's 616-page report was made public in 2015, and contained recommendations on aspects of the law such as civil unions, marriage and assisted procreation. But it was shelved by the previous Liberal government.

The committee was struck in 2013 following the Supreme Court ruling in the high-profile Eric vs. Lola case.

The woman, known by the pseudonym Lola, had been seeking monthly support payments for herself from her billionaire former partner, a lump sum and a share of the family patrimony. The couple had lived together for seven years and had three children.

The court rejected Lola's action, upholding Quebec's Civil Code provision that the obligation to provide spousal support and divide family property applies only to couples who were married.

LeBel said she believes it's important to hold consultations, since families are "at the core of our lives."

When asked whether the CAQ government will implement the recommendations that come from this consultation, LeBel said "we'll see."

She said she's not bound by the suggestions, but is holding the consultations because she wants to know what people think, so what comes out the process will be taken into account.