As a legally married lesbian parent of three I'm very excited to be able to access this important film! I know our whole family will be gathered around the TV!!

Thanks so much CBC

I was very touched by the determination of the couple in this documentary. I think their morals represent what all parents should have, regardless of their sexual orientation. Way to go Mona and Linda!

I appreciate that CBC --The Lens--has aired this documentary. It is important that people see and get the fact that loving family life for children is what matters.

I and my partner have a child, through alternative insemination, and she is now six years old. I gave birth to her. At the time, I was not allowed to put my partner's name on the birth registration since she is a woman.

We paid a lawyer to have my partner adopt our child legally. Had I put any man's name on the birth registration, even if he had not been the father, Ontario laws would not have questionned the legitimacy.

I take pride in our beautiful daugher and I think she, herself said it best when a young playmate asked her why she had two moms. She answered, "I was born that way. I'm just lucky".

What a beautiful story.Thank you.

What is ridiculous is the belief that a heterosexual couple can provide a better home, and have what is needed to raise a child. Growing up in a rural Canadian town, I saw maybe one family that as a child I might like to live with. The men did not communicate and the women were so busy with chores that children were sometimes seen but seldom heard.

These two people seem to be very serious about being parents . Any child would feel good being raised by them. Happy Christmas.

I wonder if any headway was made with the human rights commission after Linda and Mona filed their complaint. I would like to know if the situation regarding adopting from the States has changed in Quebec from the time the doc was filmed to now. It seems to be a cowardly move on the part of the SAI to select an agency in the US that will outright prevent the adoption of children by same-sex couples. Perhaps I am wrong in my assumption, however I believe this is simply a tactic to avoid having to take responsibility for the denial of adoption. I hope this can be changed for future partners in the same situation.

I debated watching this program because I feared experiencing the enevitable heartache of disappointment on behalf of Linda and Mona. But it warmed my heart to share in their glowing happiness with their new family by the end of the program.My wife and I send wishes of good health and happiness for your future.

My heart sank for these wonderful women. I was so appalled by all the discrimination and obstacles they faced. But I was so inspired by their faith and assurance that they would have the family they dreamed. Their story touched me as a woman wanting to be a "mommy" one day but also as a person who believes in fate no matter what the odds that may appear before you. I know they will make excellent parents and I wish them all the best ...

As a mother of nine month old twins who were conceived via in-vitro fertilization after six years of attempting to start a family, I sympathized very deeply with Mona and Linda in their quest to have a child.

I found fertility treatments difficuIt enough; I cannot imagine how much more stressful they would have been had I been facing blatant discrimination by my government at the same time. I was very disturbed by the attitudes of people who don't believe that they should be parents simply because they are homosexual.

A child needs a loving, nurturing home with parents who support and care for them - why assume that this can only be accomplished by a heterosexual couple? My son and daughter will not benefit from the fact that their parents are a man and a woman - they will benefit from the fact that we are two people committed to raising them with love.

With the number of children waiting for homes, how can we justify turning away prospective adoptive parents only because they are homosexual?

What a great documentary! I want to congratulate Linda and Mona for their persistence in overcoming unforeseeable odds and political boundaries in achieving their goal of adopting a child. They are an amazing and loving example of what we can accomplish through sheer will, determination and hard work to overcome unacceptable barriers. This documentary gives me hope for Quebec's future. A future that will respect and include all of it's citizens' fundamental rights.

Wow! So happy to see this film on tv as it almost parallels our life! We had almost all the same experiences, except we ended up being scammed twice through the states before we ended up having success adopting a two year old who was also right in our own backyard.

I hope you show this again as too many people think it is easy for same sex couples to adopt.

I am also an adoptive mother. I happen to be hetrosexual but feel it shouldn't matter when being considered for
adoption. Once two people are studied and found to be right for adopting who cares what sex they are. What is important is wanting to make a family and the ability to make that happen.

Congratulations to Linda and Mona! I was thrilled to see you succeed in your quest for parenthood.

What a heartwarming story. Two children get ripped from their parents, their grandparents, their relatives, family, culture, by social workers who are then passing them on to two lesbians - who of course are to be sympathized with just because they are lesbians.

People need to make themselves aware of how easy it is for a child to be taken from them, how impossible it is to fight the government, and how duped they are by politically correct propaganda like this CBC documentary.

Don't tell me there was no one in the whole Inuit community that could look after these children. What an abomination! Read the applicable child welfare act, and see how draconian the law is and how powerful the government is when they decide to take children away.

All it takes is one false allegation, and a coincidental bump or bruise that is the result of one of the innumerable accidents a child will have, and your baby / child is gone forever. There are very few judges in this country that have the guts to stand up to children's "protective" services and ask if it really is in a child's best interests to be ripped from their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc., all because we have become witch hunters seeing abuse everywhere and have to "protect" children by ripping them from their blood relatives.

What a horrible thing to have to live with - and many people who are completely innocent of abuse have had their children stolen by the government and subsequently adopted by the "perfect" parents. Everything that is done to "protect" children is secret, and it would take talented investigative journalism to really get behind this story.

Imagine your child, or grandchild, or niece, or nephew abducted by the government, and sent to live with strangers. All it takes is one false allegation, which can be made by anyone (e.g., a malicious neighbour) and your baby is gone forever.

I think it is also rediculious believe that a couple will make a better parent than a single parent. I will probably fall into that category. Like the women in the film who was single at the time of adoption I was thinking of adopting from china.

Unfortunately that door has been closed since the making of the documentary. China will not adopt to single parents and there are other new restrictions now

I enjoyed the documentary. I don't believe we are not made aware of the circumstances in which the children were removed from their birth parents so let's not pass judgement on that.

Thanking you for airing this documentary. As a same-sex adoptive mother I could really identify with the couple. I am so thrilled the way their story turned out - during the story when international adoption was being pursued, I felt that I wanted to let them know that there are so many children waiting for a family right here in our own country.

My partner and I adopted our foster child and it has been and continues to be a remarkable journey. Our daughter thinks that she has it way better than any of her schoolmates or friends... she has three moms (my partner and I and her tummy mom whom we have had a relationship with since our daughter's birth).

Today, I am feeling thankful to live in British Columbia and to have had the supportive and accepting professionals, family, friends and community who know and accept us for who we are and recognize our commitment to our child and each other rather than focussing on us being gay.

I would just like to comment that after watching a man say that "every child has a right to a father and a mother" as a basis for allowing people to get reproductive assistance or be allowed to adopt a child is very narrow-minded. I also disagree with his opinion that a boy needs a father to become a proper man. I found myself yelling at the TV and decided that writing a comment here would be more effective.

On the surface his statements may seem reasonable, until you consider that every person has the right to reproduce.

Denying people this right is comparable to forcible sterilization operations targetted at certain groups of people.

What's even more troubling is that there are children out there waiting for loving homes and may never get one simply because suitable homosexual couples and single people are being turned away because they are not a heterosexual family. SHAME!

I would like to finish by saying that I was raised by a single parent and my "rights" were in no way denied by this. I feel that I am no different from anyone else, my experiences were different, but that's what makes life life. I was and am much loved and have had many other male role models in my life from which to learn from and that is what matters most. Uncles, Grandparents, teachers and friends have filled this "void". It is very true that it takes a whole community to raise a child.

Thanks CBC for bringing this issue to public attention and congratulations to Linda and Mona!

I would like to see my comments that I made over eight hours ago as part of this discussion. They are reasonable, given the seriousness of this topic on future generations. Please post.

Thank you.

Moderators note: Marie, we can't publish an full article on our site that we don't have the rights to publish. But you are more than welcome to submit the thoughts in your own words or provide a link to it.

What about the gross injustice that has been done to the BIRTH parents? These two beautiful Inuit children were taken from them and their families and their heritage and culture.

In BC, the Social Workers Association has organized to protest the government's recent plans to move towards a policy of keeping families together (e.g., providing the resources to families whose children supposedly might need "protective services" rather than yanking those children out of the families and putting them up for adoption or foster care).

Why would the Social Workers Association protest against keeping families together? Because they don't want to keep families together, I would guess. If you read the case law, you'll see that social workers are fanatical in their desire to get the children away from the family, even where the judge (and this happens very rarely) states that there is no evidence the child is being abused.

People really need to research this whole issue: adoption, "child protection," "gay parents deserve the right to have kids," and "the best interests of the child" are all linked together, and we are being duped by programs like the CBC into believing that our sympathies should lie with gay parents, rather than the parents, and communities such as the Inuit case.

Note also, that it is rarely the well off who lose their children to Child Protective Services. This, I imagine, is not due to the lower incidence of child abuse in those families, but rather the vulnerability of the poor in terms of their inability to fund lawsuits to get their child back, and their lack of political connections.

Wake up, people - the government is getting bigger and much more dangerous. When it can commit the most heinous, heartbreaking act (taking a child from their parents), with no questions asked, and all done in secret, then you know we are really in trouble.

I felt sorrow that some people are so biased; the man who said all children have the right to a man and woman as parents. So, should we remove ALL children from single parent homes?

I'm sure the children this couple have now will have a much better life than with their birth parents and will more than likely learn all about their cultural heritage. Children need, more than anything, someone to love them, then nourish, educate them in the ways of the world and protect them.

Wake up!

Children need a safe environment. If the biological parents can't provide one, because they are abusing themselves and/or their children, then the government should intervene and give children who are in danger a chance at a decent life.

Where is the secret? Parents who are given many chances to rehab or participate in the lives of their children and don't deserve to lose their rights.

The government has to protect evey citizen! Seniors, children and anyone who is being abused by another citizen.

This program was a great ilustration of what kind of gender chaos can be created by almost anyone that would decide that standard for what is real are their own subjective ideas and biases, without taking in account the sex they were born in. We do not get to define or create reality, reality defines us as we observe the way things are in it, including our two genders.

So, it is impossible for a child to have two mothers, unless that child is going to be lied how it came to live with two women. But today, in our postmodern western society, there is an euphemism for a contradiction - it is called diversity.

I could illustrate this with the story of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' where everybody is praising the new clothes on the king, but even the little child can see that the king has no clothes on. In the same sense, everybody is praising the 'self-expression' in gender identity and emergence of the 'new types of families'. However, even the little child can see and understand that the best family is one where a man loves and cherishes his wife. A man who is there for her and the children which they raise together.

This TV show and most of the comments on it illustrate that there is the new intolerance which is called 'political correctness' where many are proud to stand up for morals, that are actually no morals at all.

I would like to add that I do not believe the documentary was a discussion about the policies around keeping a child with parents when child welfare agencies believe a child is at risk. If you have been affected by that for sure your thoughts would turn to that issue.

However I believe the documentary was more a discussion about adoption and the definition of what a "good home" or "parent" is for the lack of a better way of putting it.

Janet, where did these two babies come from? It is completely irresponsible, and immoral, not to question the provenance of the babies that were provided to the 2 lesbians. It DOES matter where they came from. And where they came from is the biological parents, who should have more rights than two adoptive parents.

The story said NOTHING about the 2 biological parents, and least nothing of substance. What about biological parents' rights, the rights of the Inuit community, the rights of the blood relatives of those two babies? It is short sighted and grossly immoral to only focus on the the rights of adoptive parents.

And EVERYONE is affected when babies can be yanked from their biologically parents, and their blood relatives, and their culture, just so two lesbians can get their wish. How incredibly immoral to focus only on the rights of the two lesbians.

I watched this documentary with great interest as an adoptive and biological mother. We are a heterosexual couple who adopted a baby girl, domestically, 8 years ago, against some other odds...age. I was 44, my husband 42. As I have travelled across Canada, interviewing families who have been touched by adoption ( all sides of the triad) , the most overwhelming conclusion I have drawn is this:

While there is grief and loss suffered during adoption, we must always put the best interests of the children...to being placed in the best homes/ environment possible, whether it be single/gay/lesbian or heterosexual.Before ANY baby is conceived, these considerations should be top of mind. Obviously this is not the case,or adoption would not be a necessary option.

We did not learn why these children could not remain with their biological parents, but when you consider the enormous number of children in foster care and "adoptable", in Canada, needing permanent homes, it is quite evident that birthparents are given ample opportunity to prove their capabilities.

We "grown-ups" need to take responsibilty for the children who are born into the world, innocently, in whatever way gives them the best chance at life.

Good for you CBC.

The documentary was ostensibly about what makes a good parent; however, any thinking person must ask themself the question: where did these adoptive children come from - why were the biological parents robbed of their children - how did this happen - why did it happen?

Are the Inuit so bad at parenting, individually and collectively, that no one in the community could take these children? What about the grandmothers, elders, were they even given the opportunity to care for these children? Were the biological parents in fact, unfit? What constitutes "unfit", and who gets to decide, and on what evidence?

If you don't ask these questions, or don't care, then you have no right to complain or be concerned about the "rights" of lesbians to adopt. If you think that one false allegation can't result in a child being permanently removed from a home, or one over-zealous social worker doesn't have enormous power, you need to do some more research. Ask questions, instead of blindly accepting the proposition that lesbians deserve to get have children, no matter where they come from.

Personally, I could not live with myself, knowing I had taken someone else's babies, unless I was 100% certain that those babies had no where to go at all within their family / community / culture, and their parents were in fact the abusive monsters that we are supposed to believe they were.

This documentary opens up a silo full of worms, and I can certainly understand why some people would prefer to keep that silo closed, or ignore its existence. It's probably one of the most cruel things happening in our society today - what could be worse than ripping a child / children from their parents and family, just so the government can justify it's existence and / or lesbians, etc. can adopt.

If you think there are not "wrongful convictions" for abuse (e.g., parents who have their children taken because of allegations of abuse) you need to do some research on false allegations and wrongful convictions - it happens all the time. Imagine your child, baby, grandson, nephew, niece, taken by the government and disappearing forever, because some nasty neighbour / ex-wife / ex-husband, waited until the child got a bump and then phone social services and fed them lies.

This can happen to anyone, and trying to prove your innocent is very difficult - the government has unlimited resources = lawyers, social workers, psychiatrists, etc., etc., and they are all going to fighting to take your child.

This documentary is about getting a child at all costs. If we are to be a just, humane society, we need to ask questions, instead of just assuming that what we are fed is the truth, the only truth, and nothing but the truth. Too many people are fanatical about the rights of gays, etc., and forget that other people have rights too.

THERE ARE SO MANY CHILDREN WITH-OUT PARENTS, ESPECIALLY IN AFRICA,THAT NEED GOOD HOMES REGARDLESS...YOU WOULD THINK THEY WOULD MAKE THE WHOLE PROCESS MUCH EASIER, BUT THE USUAL GOV RED TAPE ALWAYS SEEM TO SLOW THINGS DOWN...I AM GLAD DAVID& HIS SISTER HAS LOVING PARENTS & A NEW CHANCE AT A GOOD LIFE. GOD BLESS U ALL & HAVE A GOOD DAY EH!!!

What a good documentary. The two moms seem very committed to raising thier new son. As a mother of a lesbian woman who is trying to adopt with her partner, I empathise with thier struggle.

We are heterosexual and we raised our daughter in a heterosexual home. I feel the prejudice against gay or lesbian couples is very unfounded.

Our daughter and her partner would be very good parents, and they have an extended family that welcome a new addition. My husband and I also suffer from the outdated policies that many of these agencies have. We love our child just as she would love thier child.

Linda and Mona,

Thank you for fighting for the rights of gays and lesbians to adopt in Quebec. You have laid the foundation for a generation of gay and lesbians to start families of their own.

We wish you all the best!

Just finished watching your documentary and though I never have responded to any televison show, I wanted to say how happy I was to see that Mona and Linda were finally able to realize their dream of become "mothers". I give them credit for persevering for so long to make their dream come true , having to overcome so many obstacles because they were lesbians.

I certainly cannot agree with that biased man`s statements about every child needing both a mother and father and that boys need a male figure to take part in outdoor activities and to go to hockey games etc.

Mona and Linda have the love, resources, relatives and friends to give David (or any child) a happy home and good future. I am sure David will grow into a man that his "mothers" will be proud of. Good luck to them both in their future adoption of both David and his sister.

As a First Nations Adoptee I was moved to tears when I thought about Baby David's kin ties being severed through the Foster\Adoption system. I remember when I first met my partner (an aboriginal artist) he told me "go home, your Grandma will remember you, she will remember your birthday and know who you are!"

I took his advice and contacted my reserve a small community in Eastern Saskatchewan. My Grandmother was waiting for me and caught the very next bus to Vancouver where I was living at the time. I remember the instant intimacy I felt with her as if I knew her all my life. She loved me unconditionally and taught me many vital cultural and spirital lessons. I remember lots of bannock, laughter, ceremony and stories. She helped me find out who I was.

I see the love between little David and his beautiful moms. I pray the new mommys will connect him and his sister with healthy family one day so they can discover a part of themselves that cannot be studied in books or experienced through other community contacts!

In the end life is a journey, full of mystery, magic and endless possibilities no matter what you are given in life!

David, Mommies and Sister be well, happy and inspired always!!

Thank you for showing this documentary. I loved the comment about stay at home mothers, and the reference to Stephen Harper! I strongly agree that social and cultural developments among the majority of politicians and media outlets lag the general public. Strong and overpowering opinions held by a select few can often cloud out the majority. Thank you CBC for delivering this documentary, I hope at least one person watching experienced a revelation tonight!

I think that as a society that it is important to have a community of people that love and nurture a child. It should not matter if the child is born or adopted into a gay family as long as that child is loved fully and taught to be an ethical human being. Gender role models can come in the form of grandfathers, aunts, uncles. friends, etc.

The "Leave It to Beaver" was never a true representation of the family. We are all imperfect people in our own ways and no form of family is better than another. We should all be so lucky as to have parents that love and guide us such as Mona and Linda.

I watched the film and was so glad to see that Linda and Mona were finally able to add to their family.
I am a firm believer that a child needs love and that it doesn't matter where it comes from, so long as they are getting it.
I am the mother of two children, and know first hand how much joy children bring to your life.

Good for you ladies.

I'm a family doctor and get to spend time with all kinds of parents, all kinds of kids. So many of them defy our expectations and cultural myths (coming from both the political left and the right) about what a family should be.

I've seen wonderful single teenage parents, a grandmother (white) singly raising her lovely Inuit grandsons (who would be awfully surprised at the notion that total strangers might consider them to have been "ripped" away from anything). I've seen several happy and very boy-ish boys being raised by lesbian mothers. I've seen a child thrive who has been raised alone by his father since the tragic death of his mother.

I've seen many kids doing great within a conventional family too. And many who unfortunately don't. All of these families succeed or fail (or like most of us fall somewhere in between) because of factors having nothing at all to do with the genders or numbers or races of the people involved.

Thanks Janet for focussing on the questions of what "a good home" or a good "parent" looks like. For those posting comments about the superiority of the one mom/one dad home, let me use my life to make a point.

My dad was an alcoholic who was angry, absent and critical. Like so many others, this has contributed to a life-long struggle to overcome low self-esteem and other issues. There is also the self-reported statistic the 50% of people in hetero relationships have had affairs - making lying, deception and betrayal a fundamental family value.

Are we so silly as to make gender the main criteria for a good parent!?

Thank you to all the amazing parents - single, gay, trans - out there for your love and commitment to nurturing a child into a healthy and loving adult.

p.s. is there anyway to obtain a copy of the show to share with my friends who missed it?

No one, absolutely no one can replace the biological father and mother. Today's western generation just re-produces without first building a foundation between two consenting adults.

Without a father in the equation it is free for all. Are you all blind --- check out the statistics we as a society are going down hill. Crimes commited by young adults today are those coming from the single parent homes and if you break it down further; a high percentage of them are from fatherless homes. We have let the judges place the burden of responsibilities on the shoulders of women.

A father and a mother plays a complementary role in nurturing a child. And to understand that is not rocket science. A father in his mannerism displays ruggeredness and in turn the mother mild and gentleness. These qualities leeds a child into plurarity instead of sigularity (whoose).

These mothers have not ripped children away from their biological families; they have rescued them from foster care. While good parents come in many forms and guises, almost no one thinks that this includes government agencies. The foster care system is brutally impersonal, and any child who becomes eligible for adoption through provincial services in Canada has come through that system.

Adoption is a story of tragedy and of hope. We don't know why the birth family could not raise these children, or whether they parted from thier children with grief, anger, resignation or generous prayers for the new parents. We do know that this couple is willing to take their chances in loving children that they did not grow, and that may have special needs as a result of early experience. I say, Bravo! What courage! What love!

If people have strong feelings about governments taking Aboriginal children away from thier communities, then there is plenty that can be done to strengthen communities and to resist and attack racism in Canada. And yes, all children have a right to know and to connect with thier cultural heritage. But don't take it out on adoptive families. Get behind them, and behind all parents who are trying to give children a good start.

Children are not commodities, and shared DNA does not give us ownership: they belong to the universe, and are entrusted to us to love and to care for. Mother is a verb, and these women appear to be prepared to mother for all they are worth.

another proud (lesbian) (adoptive) mom

By nature of the disorder (by birth or of a personal response and weakness to an environment) of homosexualtily, practising Gays or Lesbians shouldn't adopt children nor engage in adultary in order to procreate. One day one can only hope that we will (as a society) return to our senses on this subject before it is too late, but alas that is a conversion of one person's conscience and conviction at a time.

What a wonderful documentary! I am so pleased Linda and Mona finally have two children to love and care for.
Loving parent(s) are all that is necessary for children to grow and achieve their needs. It does not matter if the parents are same race, same religion, heterosexual or well off finacially. All that is necessary is love and the ability to provide a child with a caring, supportive environment.

I realize some people would have a problem with adopting parents being same gender. This is unfortunate but these people cannot comprehend everyone has the right to give and receive love. Certainly any comment I can make here will not open their minds.

I would love to see an update to the story.