Although this is a Canadian effort, the outcome of this legal case will no doubt influence future regulations in the United States. If you are willing and/or able, we would greatly appreciate any help in spreading the word. Please share this with anyone who you think might be interested in helping this cause.
Thank you!
The following message is sent on behalf of the Canadian Donor Conception Coalition, http://www.CanadianDonorOffspring.ca/
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October 16, 2009
RE: Class action lawsuit by Canadian Donor Offspring
Dear Friends,
We hope you have all had a restful and enjoyable summer.
As fall is upon us, we want to provide an update on the case, as well as say a big “THANK YOU” to those of you who have donated money which is being held in trust for the legal costs.
SUPPORT FROM THE ADOPTION COMMUNITY
Over the summer, we also received a letter and financial contribution from the legislative committee of the American Adoption Congress (AAC) supporting the rights of donor conceived people to have access to their birth information. AAC sends their good wishes for a successful conclusion of the lawsuit. It is encouraging to know that there is support from the AAC as well as from the Adoption Council of Canada.
LEGAL UPDATE
While our trial is set to be heard on October 25th, 2010, our lawyers are hoping that it might be moved up into the spring of 2010 by having what is called a "summary trial" which involves affidavit evidence rather than the attendance of witnesses who would testify. It is still too early to know whether that will happen but our lawyers are confident that it will. There has been much legal activity behind the scenes to prepare for this and we wish to acknowledge the dedication, committment and leadership of Joe Arvay, QC and Sean Hern, LL.B.
Elin Sigurdson, Associate lawyer at Arvay Finlay, has recently joined Mr. Arvay and Mr. Hern on the legal team and we look forward to working with her. We would also like to thank law student Bruce Reed for his work on the case over the summer.
We have had recent communication with LEAF (Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund) who have let us know they are following the case with interest. At this point, there is no funding to assist, but we are on their radar screen because one of their research projects this year involves looking at the equality implications of the Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) legislation, reproductive technologies and various reproductive rights. LEAF is a national charitable organization that works towards ensuring the law guarantees equality for women.
APPEAL
We need any and all continued help with individual donations – please know that every single donation of money counts, whatever the amount – we cannot do this alone and ask for everybody who has an interest for any reason in seeing this case move forward, and/or who was connected with the AHR legislation, to go to the Fundraising Page at Canadian Donor Offspring, <http> and make a contribution.
Thank you,
Olivia Pratten
Spokesperson for the Canadian Donor Conception Coalition (CDCC)
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