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Another Quebec mom fighting to give baby dead partner's last name

Another Quebec mom fighting to give baby dead partner's last name

A second mother in Quebec has come forward in the fight to give her baby the last name of her deceased parter.

Marie-Chantale Daigle and her longtime partner, Jimmy Brunet-Rotondo, were never married.

In March, Brunet-Rotondo died in a collision between two trucks, leaving behind a pregnant Daigle.

She gave birth to their son James less than three weeks ago.

In order for her newborn to eventually collect benefits from Quebec's workplace health and safety board (CNESST), he needs to have his father's last name.

Daigle, 29, said she was told a DNA test was all it would take to give her son her partner's last name. She did the test when she was still pregnant.

She thought she was in the clear – until she read the story of another woman trying to give her child her deceased partner's last name.

Isabelle Renaud wanted to give her baby girl a hyphenated family name, but had to hire a lawyer and get her application approved in court because her partner died a few months before.

Because they weren't married to their partners, Quebec's Civil Code doesn't allow Renaud or Daigle to claim paternity on behalf of their children's deceased fathers.

An 'infuriating' administrative process

"It's starting to take a lot of me, especially with a little baby that was just born," she said.

She said not only is she trying to mourn, but now she has to get a lawyer and fight a new battle.

"It's infuriating because it's really just administrative," she said, adding she knows the courts will approve the baby having his father's last name, since that's what happened in Renaud's case.

Family lawyer Anne-France Goldwater said all this could have been sorted out had the couple had some legal document saying Brunet-Rotondo is the baby's father, but acknowledged most couples wouldn't think to create that kind of document when the baby is on the way.

Daigle says she and her partner were going to go to a lawyer and prepare a will once the baby arrived, but never thought to do it ahead of time.

She says the only written proof she has of Brunet-Rotondo acknowledging he was going to be a dad was perhaps a Facebook post.

Common-law couples need protection, women say

With common-law relationships on the rise in Canada, Daigle says the civil law needs to be updated to reflect that reality and protect families.

Daigle has since reached out to Renaud and they are now teaming up to put pressure on the province to change the law.

"I know she has ideas, I know she wants to change things," Daigle said of Renaud.

"I told her I support her and I'll be by her side."

Daigle also has to deal with other issues that have surrounded Brunet-Rotondo's death.

A Quebec coroner's report earlier this week revealed the 28-year-old truck driver may have been on his phone at the time of the accident, sparking a highly-publicized debate on whether distracted driving should be criminalized.