Ms Sara Cohen:

Every province has a different parentage scheme. For example, in the province of Ontario, in which Toronto is located and which is where I live, the law states that as long as there is a legal agreement in place that mentions who is the parent, if there is an issue during the first seven days after the child's birth, you follow that legal agreement and the parents can make the decision about the child. However, technically, although there is not a document or a birth certificate, the surrogate is the legal parent for those seven days until everyone has registered. In respect of the latter, the surrogate gives her consent that she is not a parent and signs certain documents in front a lawyer and the parents sign certain documents stating that they are the parents, have done all these steps properly, etc. For those first few days, the surrogate is technically the legal parent.