Regulator searches home of B.C. 'childbirth activist' with history of unauthorized midwifery
CTV
The B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives is investigating reports that a self-described "childbirth activist" from Vancouver Island has been offering unauthorized midwifery services, in violation of a decades-old court order.
The B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives is investigating reports that a self-described "childbirth activist" from Vancouver Island has been offering unauthorized midwifery services, in violation of a decades-old court order.
Earlier this week, BCCNM investigators, accompanied by RCMP officers, conducted a search of Gloria Lemay's home in Duncan, seizing evidence "related to her ongoing unauthorized practice of midwifery," according to a public notice on the regulator's website.
"BCCNM will review the evidence seized and determine the next steps to be taken against Ms. Lemay," the notice reads.
Only people who are registered with the BCCNM – which requires completing an approved four-year undergraduate degree – are legally allowed to practice midwifery or call themselves midwives in British Columbia.
Lemay has never obtained registration in the province, but has a history of providing midwifery services anyway, which led to the college obtaining a "permanent court order" barring her from continuing to practice in February 2000.
According to court documents, Lemay went on to perform services such as "internal vaginal examinations, episiotomies and amniotomies" in the years that followed, despite that order. Episiotomies are surgical incisions and amniotomies involve the intentional rupture of a pregnant person's amniotic sack.
In January 2002, a judge found her guilty of criminal contempt for assisting in 10 home births – for which she charged a fee of $2,500 each – and sentenced her to five months in jail.
