Unaware of each other's existence, siblings meet as adults in Sherbrooke, Que.

When Jouhaïnna Lebel set out to find her birth mother, she had no idea she would stumble upon her biological brother — let alone find him in the same Canadian city where she lives.

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''My quest was to find my biological mother — not necessarily to have a relationship, but primarily to find out about my health and my origins," Lebel said.

Lebel was born in Macau, a former Portuguese colony just west of Hong Kong which is now an autonomous region of China. 

"All I knew was that my mother was Portuguese, my father was Chinese, and that I was born in Macau." 

Lebel said she's had all of the documents related to her adoption for some time.

But she didn't do anything with them until she saw an episode of the Radio-Canada television program Deuxième Chance, in which Radio-Canada reporter Pascal Robidas, also adopted from Macau, met his biological mother.

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"I decided to start searching, because now I had a starting point, so I wrote to the Red Cross," said Lebel. "That's how I began, in the hopes of finding by biological mother, but I was told she had died.''

Brother, sister unaware of each other's existence 

Paul-André Brissette said he'd never thought about looking for his biological family.

''I was told I was an only child and my mother, who was Portuguese, had died during childbirth.  I was also told my father was Filipino, and I always accepted that version of my past.''

The 38-year-old said that changed after seeing an article in the local paper about Lebel beginning the search for her family.

Brissette said he asked his adoptive parents if he had a Portuguese passport, and when he realized he did, he sent a photo of it to Lebel.

Brissette said Lebel phoned him and jokingly said, "You're my brother,'' because they had the same last name on their documents.

The pair decided to do a DNA test, but Brissette said he never imagined it would reveal anything significant.

''I wanted to do the test to find out if we were cousins, but they said there was no way with DNA to know that,''

Brissette said they decided to do the test anyway to rule out the possibility they were brother and sister.

"In the end, that wasn't the case at all," he said.

It's like I've always had a sister.- Paul-André Brissette

Brissette and Lebel received ot the results of their DNA test March 29, and it indicated a 99 per cent chance of being blood relatives. He said that revelation has been an adjustment.

''The first week there was a lot of emotion, learning how to deal with it," he said. "For about a week or two now it's been going well: we're comfortable. It's like I've always had a sister.''

Both in Sherbrooke by coincidence

Brissette and Lebel had both been at an orphanage in Macau and were sent to Quebec by its founder, Sister Liliane Cayer, a nun with the missionary order of Notre-Dames-Des-Anges, based in Lennoxville.

''There were many nuns in the region who were sending Chinese babies all over the world at that time,'' said Lebel, who grew up in Stanstead in the Eastern Townships and later moved to Victoriaville.

Brissette, on the other hand, grew up in Quebec City, and later moved to Trois-Rivières to play football, but they both moved to Sherbrooke in 2000 to attend university.

''We discovered recently … that we were in the same semester — and the same class,'' Brissette said.

Lebel said they also met by chance a few years later when her brother-in-law introduced them.

''I asked him where he was from because I was curious to know about his origins, and that's when he told me he was born in Macau," she said.

"We had a common link but we didn't think anything of it.''

Adoptive families to meet for Mother's Day

Lebel and Brissette said their adoptive families will meet for the first time at a lunch planned for Mother's Day.

Lebel said she is taking things one day at a time, but she and Brissette believe they have another sister who they hope to find.   

''We're going to start searching in the coming months, and we'll see what comes of it," she said.

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