In Canada, it is illegal to pay a surrogate mother or to purchase human gametes, be it sperm or eggs. This ban is enshrined in the 2004 law on medically assisted procreation.

The law stems from a Royal Commission think-tank on new reproduction techniques, which were discussed in "numerous consultations with stakeholders and the general public", over a "legislative process dating back almost 30 years". When the law was adopted, "all the parties agreed that payment for surrogacy, sperm and eggs was not the answer".

To put it more precisely, the law banned "the commercialisation of male and female reproductive capacities and the exploitation of children, women and men for commercial purposes". But recently, Anthony Housefather, MP for Mont-Royal and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in the Canadian House of Commons is keen to revisit this ban and urges that "Canadians must be able to pay - and be paid - for surrogacy including human sperm and eggs". He wants to present a draft bill to Parliament along these lines.