According to new research on polyamory,  Canadian family laws, which adapted for common-law and same-sex couples, as well as multiple parents of children conceived using reproductive technologies, should have to adapt once again,.

This summer John-Paul Boyd, executive director of the Canadian National Research Institute for Law and the Family, conducted the first national survey of polyamorous families. Polyamorists are people who choose engage themselves to more than one committed intimate partner at the same time.

Boyd  said, "It's not a huge number of people, but it's still significant and I believe the population is growing,".

More than 550 people responded to the survey, which found most of Canada's polyamorists live in B.C. and Ontario.

While half of respondents reported  to have relationships that involved three people, most choose to live in two households. Twenty-three per cent of those who  surveyed said that at least one child lives full-time in their house.

Respondents also reported higher levels of education and income than most Canadians. Yet only one-third of those polyamorists said that  they had taken legal steps to formalize the rights and responsibilities of everyone in the family.

By Prakriti Neogi