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Gatineau woman fights to change baby's name to recognize infant's deceased father

Gatineau woman fights to change baby's name to recognize infant's deceased father

A Gatineau woman is fighting to get her child's name changed to recognize the baby's father, who died of flesh-eating disease before the little girl was born.

"I can't give her her father," Roxanne Lauzon said of two-month-old baby Faith.

"The only thing I can give her is his name. I really want her to have his name — that way, she'll always have that little part of her daddy."

Lauzon's boyfriend Robert Lajambe died suddenly in May after flesh-eating disease took over his body. He died in surgery at the Gatineau Hospital, Lauzon said.

Because Lajambe and Lauzon weren't married, Lauzon said she has had to jump through hoops to register the baby with Lajambe's last name.

"I had to register her under my name," Lauzon said. "They told me, he's passed away, and cannot contest it and therefore sign the legal document as well."

In a statement Quebec's Ministry of Labour wouldn't comment on the specific case but said the general rule under the Quebec Civil Code is that if a father dies before his child is born and he wasn't married or in a civil union, the mother must take the case to court if she wants his name on the birth certificate.

Lauzon has spent $600 on a DNA test and is planning to take her case to court.

"I don't care what I have to do," she said. "I will do it to have the Lajambe name."