A 60-year-old woman delivered twins at Calgary's Foothills Hospital Tuesday, family members confirmed. She is believed to be the oldest person in Canada to give birth.

Family members said Ranjit Hayer and her husband have been trying to have a child for years, to no avail. Reports say Hayer, originally from India, returned to the country to receive in vitro fertilization after being turned down in Canada because of her age.

Hayer gave birth to two boys, Manjot and Gurpreet.

Hayer's family said the birth is especially significant, considering the importance of offspring in Indian culture.

"(Hayer)'s always treated her nieces and nephews as her own," said a family member who asked not to be identified. "We always prayed for them to have children. It's a very special moment.

"In Indian culture, children are a blessing. It's very, very uncommon for a married couple to not have children."

The oldest known mother to give birth was last year in India when 70-year-old Omkari Panwar gave birth to twins after receiving in vitro fertilization.

In 2006, a 67-year-old Spanish woman had twins, her first children, in Barcelona. That woman also received in vitro fertilization.

Prior to that, Romanian Adriana Iliescu, at age 66, was the oldest woman known to have given birth. She had twins in early 2006, but one child died hours after birth.

Also in 2006, a 64-year-old Turkish successfully gave birth to a baby boy in Istanbul.