Family life
Canada respects all types of families
Family life in Canada is as diverse as its people. While many families are made up of two parents with children, there are many other types of families as well. In Canada, you may form the type of family that works best for you.
For example, Canada has over one million single-parent families, with women heading most. There are hundreds of thousands of stepfamilies—created when adults who already have children marry one another—and many common-law unions (unmarried people who live together) with and without children.
Sometimes grandparents raise their grandchildren or uncles and aunts raise their nieces and nephews. Some parents adopt children. Other families are made up of same-sex couples, with or without children, and many couples have no children. Sometimes extended families live together, with parents, children, uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents all living under one roof.
It is common in Canada for two-parent families to have both parents working outside the home.