1960s – Canada’s First Municipally Funded Birth Control Clinic

The police chief said to me ‘as long as you don’t provide contraception for a single woman, you are alright. But the minute you provide contraception for a single woman, you’re in trouble’.

― Dr. Marion Powell on the “rules” of operating Canada’s first municipally funded birth control clinic

When the Powell family returned to Canada in 1960, Dr. Marion Powell enrolled in the University of Toronto. Her work in the community had ignited a new passion. She graduated with a diploma in public health in 1962.

That same year, Peel County hired Dr. Powell as its first female Medical Officer of Health. Two years later she became Associate Medical Officer of Health in Scarborough (a borough of Toronto).

Scarborough’s Board of Health wanted to offer family planning services. Dr. Powell was asked to investigate. In early 1966, the Board approved her plan to establish a family planning clinic.

Black text on teal background that reads Dr. Marion Powell talks about the changing attitudes towards birth control. — Listen to Dr. Marion Powell talk about Canadian society’s stigma towards birth control and where it could be distributed.

Spiral-bound notebook with a yellow and black cover showing an illustration of a family consisting of a man, a woman, two children, and a baby. Above the image, there is a black strip containing white text that reads A Planned Family is a Happy Family. — This was a teaching aid used by Dr. Marion Powell in her role as Associate Medical Officer of Health in Scarborough.

The clinic was to open in one church, but its congregation opposed it. Instead, Dr. Powell quickly arranged for it to be housed in the basement of the Scarborough Junction United Church. Public attitudes about birth control were changing. Yet some Canadians still opposed its use on moral or religious grounds.

On March 2, 1966, Canada’s first municipally funded birth control clinic opened. Dr. Powell was its medical director. As one newspaper reported: “Scarboro’s first and illegal birth control clinic opened quietly and without incident”. On its first day, it saw five women.

The clinic initially provided birth control information to married women. It encouraged women to “go home and discuss the matter with their husbands before seeing a doctor”. By the end of its first year, the clinic saw 181 clients. Soon it moved to a larger facility to keep up with the public demand. Evening hours were also added to make it more convenient for mothers and working women.

The Scarborough Birth Control Clinic provided women with access to information and counseling. Women could now make their own decisions about birth control.