Don't Remand Pregnant People or Primary Caregivers
“In the past two years, Alyssa Bennett, Bianca Mercer, Stephanie Albert and Julie Arseneau all experienced miscarriages or stillbirths during or shortly following being remanded to jail. Julie Bilotta’s harrowing experience giving birth alone inside a segregation cell while on remand in Ottawa in 2012 resulted in a protracted civil suit, which settled last year. Despite these incidents, Canada has not established protections for pregnant people facing remand.
Women comprise an increasing proportion of Canada’s prison population. Most of these prisoners are mothers, and a shocking percentage are Indigenous. Indigenous women make up roughly 40% of all incarcerated women in Canada despite comprising less than 5% of the total population of women in the country.
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