B.C. 'childbirth activist' charged with manslaughter in newborn's death

A day after CBC revealed that a self-styled Vancouver Island "childbirth activist" was under police investigation, a manslaughter charge has been sworn against Gloria Lemay in relation to the death of a newborn last January.

The charge against the 77-year-old comes almost one year to the day after the alleged victim died on Jan. 6, 2024 — 10 days after a home birth over which Lemay is accused of presiding in contravention of a decades-old court order restraining her from acting as a midwife.

"Investigators believe Ms. Lemay's involvement in the birth process led to the child's injuries and eventual death," Ladysmith RCMP said in a news release.

"A warrant was issued for Ms. Lemay on Jan. 7, 2025, and she was arrested later the same day. She has been charged with manslaughter."

CBC reported on the existence of an RCMP investigation into the newborn's death on Monday — citing documents filed by B.C.'s College of Nurses and Midwives last year in support of an order to search Lemay's home.

"Her engagement in the practice of midwifery is not only unlawful, it is a societal menace," the college claims.

"This is underscored by the fact that she is presently the subject of a serious criminal investigation.

In civil court documents, the regulator cites incidents dating back to 1985 when Lemay was charged with criminal negligence causing death in connection with a fetus that died in the birth canal.

She was convicted of that crime in a lower court but ultimately acquitted in the Supreme Court of Canada, which found that a fetus had to be completely removed from its mother's body and born alive to be considered a person.

According to court documents, the infant in the latest case was rushed from the home birth site on Dec. 27, 2023, to the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, where she was put on a ventilator.

She was then transferred to Victoria General Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, where she died 10 days later.

JT Michaelis Beck — counsel for the College of Nurses and Midwives's disciplinary and monitoring department — wrote an affidavit containing notes of their interviews with medical staff who dealt with the family after the baby's birth.

A perinatal loss navigator allegedly described the parents as "intelligent people who received medical care but then were led to believe this was normal and safe."

Beck wrote that the father claimed the "baby was gasping at birth, just laying there, making some effort, but the dad could tell it wasn't right. He was asking [Lemay] to do something but she was saying she's fine."