On October 19, 2016, our Members of Parliament voted down Bill C-225 (Cassie and Molly’s Law), a law that would have allowed additional charges to be laid against a killer who took the life of a woman he knew to be pregnant. The law was considered unnecessary, and fear was strong that this recognition of wanted children would lead to a reopening of the abortion debate. Many MPs spoke of the greater need for a national strategy addressing violence against women, calling this one small bill insignificant in addressing the larger need. They chose to do nothing rather than take one small step.
Arianna Goberdhan, nine months pregnant, was murdered on Friday, April 7th, 2017. Durham police found her badly beaten body in her home in Ontario. Her baby did not survive.
Using International Women's Day as a prompt, Prime Minister Trudeau has just announced another $650,000,000 will be sent overseas to "address gaps in sexual and reproductive health."
The gulf between Canada and the USA’s treatment of pre-born children is widening, to Canada’s shame.
According to Linda Schuyler, the executive producer of the teen sitcom “Degrassi,” abortion is the “first, if not the second, most divisive topic that we talk about.”
Starting in Ottawa on January 7th, the STOP CENSORSHIP TOUR will host nine events across Ontario to put public pressure on Premier Wynne to overturn a censorship provision in Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).
Over the past number of years in Canada, there has been a marked increase in women working in highly physical skilled trades typically thought of as “men’s domains”. These jobs may come with more risks for a woman and her pre-born child during pregnancy, or be inadvisable or impossible to continue in while pregnant. While the Employment lnsurance Act states that pregnant women are eligible for a total of 15 weeks of maternity benefits, the earliest these benefits can start is 8 weeks before the birth of her child. Those eight weeks, however, are beginning to be recognized as woefully inadequate in an increasingly gender-balanced workforce.
Breast cancer will be diagnosed in 1 in 9 Canadian women. The scores of Canadians who know women affected by breast cancer know it affects women from all walks of life without discrimination. Yet, as with all cancers, we hold out hope that causes and risk factors can be identified. If links can be proven, we can choose to take precautions against increasing our risk unnecessarily.
Members of Parliament Wednesday voted 209 – 76 against Bill C-225, also known as “Cassie and Molly’s Law.”
We Need a Law
