It’s about time the Canadian government took some stand on the provision of family planning services.
There were few family planning services in Canada before 1969. Many believe this was due to general uncertainty within the government and medical community on this issue. As one government official explained, “We won’t take the chance until the law is changed”.
Even after birth control was legalized, however, it was still not readily accessible. Dr. Marion Powell had been sounding the alarm for years. Just before the law changed, she wrote,
I see very little evidence across the country that planning for public clinics has proceeded to the point where the clinics can be immediately opened once it is legal to do so. We have made very little attempt to train personnel and to find finances to operate these clinics.
She was correct.
In 1970, the Royal Commission on the Status of Women reported that there were only 23 family planning clinics operating out of the country’s 900 hospitals. The Family Planning Federation of Canada found similar results. Hospitals, health departments, and private organizations ran only 66 family planning clinics in Canada. If the goal was to operate one clinic per 30,000 Canadians, the country needed at least 700 family planning clinics – immediately.
More than a year after the legalization of birth control, the Minister of National Health and Welfare finally acted. On September 18, 1970, the government launched family planning grants. These grants supported family planning services, training, and research.
Dr. Powell wanted to make family planning more accessible – especially to young people. She was critical of clinics that had limited hours and placed “age, residence, and marital status requirements on girls coming to the clinics”. She began promoting her new vision for family planning in Canada.
