This blog was started to honour my dad. And I have mentioned at times his history and background. In 2014, my husband and I travelled to Quebec City to be immersed in his origin story (find that here and here). And by doing my own DNA submissions through Ancestry and the now questionable 23andMe I have found many distant relative matches. Notably is the match I have with an 80-something fellow from Montreal area (wrote about that briefly here). He and his brother had a hunch on cracking the code of my dad’s birth parents, but we ran in to some dead ends and some family who had either passed or didn’t want to talk.

Then, came this: New Quebec Bill provisions The update, which came into place on June 8th, 2024, would now allow me as a first-degree descendent of an adoptee to submit a request for biological family information. I submitted my application with supporting documents the moment I was able to.

Then, I waited.

I emailed once or twice to confirm that YES I was in a queue and YES I would be contacted soon.

Then, on Monday, March 17th 2025, I received an email from a woman named Fanny, who had this in her email signature:

Conseillère en recherche des origines internationales et intergouvernementales

Direction de la recherche des origines et des retrouvailles

Secrétariat aux services internationaux à l’enfant

Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux

201, boulevard Crémazie Est, bureau 1.01

Montréal (Québec)

Fanny would be working with me and assured me she would contact me as soon as she is able to begin work on my request. IT WAS HAPPENING.

Now that you’ve made it this far, I am going to make sure I say that I have a few posts planned regarding all of this I have been learning. And really, I am just beginning. But this first post is so that others who have submitted information, like myself, in regards to Bill 2 can see what they may expect to receive. Looking back now with what I have received, I know I am very lucky. But it also came with a lot of emotions. And if anyone reads this, finds this post, and wants to more in detail because they are in the same process/predicament….don’t hesitate to reach out.

Once Fanny was able to start working on my case, we set up a phone appointment to go over everything. Speaking to someone with a very strong French accent, with English not their first language, is definitely a challenge on the phone! We did later calls on Zoom, which was helpful to see her expressions. Fanny was lovely. We chatted for an hour and she explained the process-to summarize, as she works through my dad’s files, once she has accumulated enough base information (starting with birth mother) I would receive another email to set up another phone call/zoom call. She would then release the information to me on that call, and also email the information securely. After each step, we then discuss if we’d like her to find more (if the person is still alive, descendants potentially, birth father etc) until we finish. She won’t be able to give me every detail about the names she releases, but I may receive general birth years and background stuff (region where they lived, etc).

Fanny worked FAST. She knew I was going to Europe for Easter, so she was hopeful to get the first bit of information to me before hand. On April 16th, 2025, we spoke on Zoom. She was able to provide me with a summary of sociobiological antecedents. This “summary” was actually 8+ pages and pretty detailed. She spoke with my for close to an hour about all these details and I wrote down tons, but the summary pretty much had everything listed there in plain sight. My father’s birth name…Joseph Luc Parent. We always just thought it was Luc! The funny thing we always knew was the birthday discrepancy. The English version says June 7th and the French version at the orphanage and all the letters from the birth mom say June 8th. Full term, 7 pounds 8 ounces and born at St-Joseph Hospital, 750, rue Saint-Vallier Ouest, Québec city…which Fanny said is interesting because it is not the hospital that was attached to the orphanage. The mother’s name? Not given yet in this meeting. But, I found out she was 28 years old when she gave birth. Light brown hair “, brown” eyes, 5’5 1/2″ and 120 pounds. It also states her region of residence to be Chaudiere-Appalaches region and that she was single.

There is a section regarding the “physical, psychological and social development of the child.” There is quite a bit—stating about vaccinations received at orphanage in 1953, along with a physical exam in late April 1954 which noted “…lively, intelligent, in good health and a very attractive child” Then, later in May, another exam was done with a psychiatrist. I assume this was done in preparation for adoption, as he was placed with his adoptive parents on July 2nd, 1954. There are also snippets of case worker reports from when they visited my dad at his new home in 1955. The first “being a little overweight, your doctor prescribed you a protein diet….get along well with your brother although your mutual adjustment was slow at first.” And the last statement on November 11th, 1955, has the case worker “conclude that you have adjusted so well that you will lead a very secure and happy life.”

The flipside to all these lovely notes leading to adoption and checkups in his first year at his new home is that there was a section preclusive to this labelled “Placement History.” Fanny noted to me that all the detail in here was quite unique, as there is not always this much information in a file. There are dated entries regarding contact with my dad’s birth mom and presumably, the orphanage. Below is a screenshot (everything is referenced as if they are speaking to my dad).

When Fanny told me all this information, I just took it all in and it didn’t effect me one way or the other. I was just amazed I was hearing it all. But a few days later, emotions took over. I cried. A lot. I felt for this woman, my grandmother, and what she had to have been going through. And how difficult it must have been. What did her life turn out to be like? Did she end up having a family and kids and a husband?

The other piece of information I found out was that the birth mother did in fact name a birth father. This was apparently very uncommon, so I am very fortunate this was included. Fanny made sure to state that of course this information could be false, as the birth mother could be saying anything. But this was what was included for me to see at this first call:

Fanny described the man was listed as a sailor, and it then also appeared that the birth mother was a kitchen maid on the ship. It was presumed then that this man was married and had his own life off the ship. It was also noted in the file that the birth mother only told her own father about the pregnancy. Other thing about the birth mother… she was in fact, an only child. Just like me.

By the end of the call and then receiving the file, I knew more about my dad’s birth story than I could have possibly dreamed. But we weren’t finished yet. Fanny would next be looking into information regarding the birth mother (she already had the name, but needed to see about possible living family) and then eventually, the birth father. The wait for this info was a long time coming, and this was only the beginning.

Part 1/tbd ……..