Rights

Abortion:

In Canada, a father has no legal right to decide whether or not a mother obtain an abortion, it is entirely up to the mother to decide. Though this has been under great debate by the father’s rights movement, at this point in time the father is not legally allowed to challenge a mother’s decision.

Parental Leave:

After becoming a father, either through adoption or the biological father of the newborn, you have the right to take a certain leave of absence from your employment without worries of penalty in terms of loss of seniority or benefits.

For a province to province guide on how much parental leave you are entitled, visit here.

Benefits

As the father or adopted father of a newborn child, the government of Canada offers you certain benefits such as:

Employment Insurance Parental Benefits:

Benefits payable either to the biological or adoptive parents while they are caring for a new-born or an adopted child, up to a maximum of 35 weeks. To receive parental benefits you are required to have worked for 600 hours in the last 52 weeks or since your last claim.

Canada Child Tax Benefit:

Tax-free monthly payment made to eligible families to help them with the cost of raising children under age 18.

Universal Child Care Benefit:

A taxable $100 monthly payment to families for each child under the age of six to help cover the cost of child care.

See http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/lifeevents/baby.shtml and http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/lifeevents/family/index.shtml for more details.