With the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Susan Brison is reminded of her late sister’s decision to get an abortion in 1967, when the procedure was still illegal in Canada.
Brison’s sister, Kate Daller, had been 19 at the time, she said. It was after Brison’s family moved from northern British Columbia to Toronto that Daller became pregnant. Having only lived in Toronto for two years, Brison’s family wasn’t able to find a doctor willing to perform an abortion in the city, she said.
“My mother contacted our old family doctor, who we knew from Vancouver, and she begged him to help us, and he agreed,” Brison told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
About three months along in her pregnancy, Daller flew to British Columbia for a surgical abortion.
“That poor young woman, terrified, [was] put on a plane for an illegal procedure … with a doctor who was horrified,” Brison said. “While flying home, [she was] hemorrhaging [and] continued to hemorrhage for several days at home before she was finally taken by ambulance to a hospital.”
At that point, Daller remained at the hospital for a few days and was questioned about whether she had an illegal abortion, Brison said. The doctor who performed the procedure also told Brison’s family to never contact him again.
In the late 1970s, when Brison decided to have an abortion herself, her experience was entirely different from that of her sister, who passed away in 2019. Brison was in her early 20s when she became pregnant despite using the Dalkon Shield, an intrauterine contraceptive device.
“We were poor… We had nothing to offer a child at that point,” Brison said.
Soon after realizing she was pregnant, Brison saw her general practitioner, who she said supported her decision to have an abortion. As of 1969, it had been legal to perform abortions in Canada under limited circumstances. In 1988, the procedure became completely decriminalized. Within less than a month, Brison had the procedure done at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
“Everything went very smoothly. There was no hassle, nobody was rude to me,” Brison said.
Brison is one of several women who reached out to CTVNews.ca to share their experiences with getting an abortion in Canada. But according to Meghan Doherty, the director of global policy and advocacy for Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, access to abortion is not as simple for all Canadians as it was for Brison, even today, despite the procedure being legal.
“I don’t think that’s a uniform experience across Canada,” Doherty told CTVNews.ca on Wednesday in a telephone interview.
GEOGRAPHICAL BARRIERS IN RURAL AREAS
In 2016, a United Nations Human Rights Commissioners report highlighted a concerning lack of access to abortion and related services in Canada. Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights has a toll-free and confidential phone and text line that receives an average of 250 to 400 calls each month from those looking for information on abortion and other reproductive health services. One of the main concerns among callers is a lack of abortion providers in their community, particularly among those who live in rural areas, Doherty said.
“We see that a lot of smaller hospitals in these areas are having difficulties with staffing and in terms of the kinds of services that they’re able to offer,” said Doherty. “That is also reflected on the availability of abortion care.”
For some people, this means travelling to other parts of the country for an abortion, said Jill Doctoroff, executive director of the National Abortion Federation of Canada. This can lead to complex travel arrangements that might involve securing child care services if the person already has children, or taking time off work, she said.
“In rural parts of the country [with] communities that don’t have bus or train services and your nearest option for abortion care is in the next town over, that might be an hour away,” she said. “For people who have limited resources … figuring out how to pay for that can be really hard.”
Ariane Lachance had an abortion earlier this year. Thankfully, she said, she was able to have the procedure done at a women’s health clinic within walking distance from where she lives in Montreal.
Without the financial means to care for a child or support from a partner, the 24-year-old said she broke down crying when she discovered she was pregnant.
“The only option was to get an abortion,” Lachance told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
After searching for clinics online and speaking to others who previously had an abortion themselves, she scheduled an appointment. Within a week, Lachance had the procedure.
“I can’t even imagine the struggle that these people must go through, either traveling out of state or out of country to get access,” she said.
RACIAL BARRIERS TO ACCESS
Since the introduction of medical abortion in 2017, which involves taking medication to induce an abortion, the procedure has become easier for those in remote communities to access, said Doctoroff. However, medical abortions can only be prescribed to those who have been pregnant for less than 10 weeks.
Beyond those early stages, surgical intervention is required, and the majority of those services are provided in urban centres, Doherty said.
Those who require an abortion later on in their pregnancy term face additional barriers to accessing services, Doctoroff said. In provinces such as Nova Scotia, surgical abortions are not performed after more than 16 weeks of pregnancy, for example. This may require people to travel to other parts of the country for the procedure. According to a study published by Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights in 2019, no providers offer abortion services to Canadians more than 23 weeks and six days into their pregnancy. Those who are this far into their pregnancy and looking for an abortion often travel to the United States for the procedure instead.
Another group that often struggles to access abortion services is immigrants, said Doherty. Those without proper documentation may find it challenging to get an abortion, as they might not have health insurance to cover related costs.
Much of the systemic racism that exists in Canadian institutions also affects those looking to access abortion services in Canada, she said. This can lead to the discrimination of racialized communities, such as those who are Black, Indigenous or people of colour, in search of abortion services. The forced sterilization of Indigenous women that continues today is an example of the “racist treatment” racialized communities face in hospitals, said Doherty.
“Looking at health disparities across the country, we can see that people who are more likely to be subjected to discrimination on a range of grounds, but including race, are more likely to experience barriers in accessing all kinds of health services, including abortion,” Doherty said.
“We live in a patriarchal society with particular gender norms and anything that is in relation to sexuality and gender that goes beyond that very narrow frame often comes under scrutiny, and with it comes stigma,” she said.
The more people talk about abortion, and work to ensure that it’s available to everyone in Canada, the easier it will be to normalize it as a common procedure and break the stigma, Doherty said.
For Jenn Howson, who lives in Calgary, the process of getting an abortion in 2018 was relatively hassle-free, she said. At 38 years old, Howson became pregnant unexpectedly. She and her husband already had a child together, and were not in the financial position to have another, she said.
“In that case, [abortion] was an option … that was available to me, and I had choices to make,” Howson told CTVNews.ca on Wednesday in a telephone interview. “If we relate it to stuff that’s happening south of the border, they don’t have that choice.”
After calling to book the appointment, Howson said she had a surgical abortion within a couple of weeks during her first trimester at a nearby hospital.
“I did a quick Google search, found the phone number to call [and] called them,” Howson said, describing the process to book an appointment. “It was quick and easy … that’s how it should be when it comes to anything for our health.”
Despite the relatively easy process, Howson said she faced mental barriers related to the stigma around having an abortion, fearing that others might think of her for having the procedure.
In addition to her abortion in 2018, Howson previously underwent a dilation and curettage procedure in 2011. Howson had the procedure, which is considered a method of early abortion, after suffering a miscarriage.
“Abortions are also done because they’re medically necessary,” she said. “We shouldn’t be shamed to have these types of procedures.”
In sharing her story, Howson hopes to contribute to a conversation where people realize it’s OK to talk about openly abortion. Part of the solution also lies in health-care providers being more vocal about the abortion services they provide, said Dr. Sarah Munro, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of British Columbia.
While most people may think they need to go to a clinic for an abortion, medical abortions in particular can be accessed through primary health-care providers, she said.
“It can be challenging, because of internalized stigma, for a client to ask their primary care provider about abortion options,” Munro told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “In turn, it can be challenging for primary care providers to advertise to their clients that this is part of [their] practice.
“Stigma goes both ways.”
Along with increased awareness of abortion services, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights is also calling on the federal government to grant more funding so that clinics can keep up with demand, a struggle health centres in Ontario and Alberta continue to face, Doherty said.
With files from CTVNews.ca’s Rhythm Sachdeva and The Canadian Press
TORONTO – Will Taylor Swift bring chaos or do we all need to calm down?
It’s a question many Torontonians are asking this week as the city braces for the arrival of Swifties, the massive fan base of one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
Hundreds of thousands are expected to descend on the downtown core for the singer’s six concerts which kick off Thursday at the Rogers Centre and run until Nov. 23.
And while their arrival will be a boon to tourism dollars — the city estimates more than $282 million in economic impact — some worry it could worsen Toronto’s gridlock by clogging streets that already come to a standstill during rush hour.
Swift’s shows are set to collide with sports events at the nearby Scotiabank Arena, including a Raptors game on Friday and a Leafs game on Saturday.
Some residents and local businesses have already adjusted their plans to avoid the area and its planned road closures.
Aahil Dayani says he and some friends intended to throw a birthday bash for one of their pals until they realized it would overlap with the concerts.
“Something as simple as getting together and having dinner is now thrown out the window,” he said.
Dayani says the group rescheduled the gathering for after Swift leaves town. In the meantime, he plans to hunker down at his Toronto residence.
“Her coming into town has kind of changed up my social life,” he added.
“We’re pretty much just not doing anything.”
Max Sinclair, chief executive and founder of A.I. technology firm Ecomtent, suggested his employees avoid the company’s downtown offices on concert days, saying he doesn’t see the point in forcing people to endure potential traffic jams.
“It’s going to be less productive for us, and it’s going to be just a pain for everyone, so it’s easier to avoid it,” Sinclair said.
“We’re a hybrid company, so we can be flexible. It just makes sense.”
Swift’s concerts are the latest pop culture moment to draw attention to Toronto’s notoriously disastrous daily commute.
In June, One Direction singer Niall Horan uploaded a social media video of himself walking through traffic to reach the venue for his concert.
“Traffic’s too bad in Toronto, so we’re walking to the venue,” he wrote in the post.
Toronto Transit Commission spokesperson Stuart Green says the public agency has been working for more than a year on plans to ease the pressure of so many Swifties in one confined area.
“We are preparing for something that would be akin to maybe the Beatles coming in the ‘60s,” he said.
Dozens of buses and streetcars have been added to transit routes around the stadium, and the TTC has consulted the city on potential emergency scenarios.
Green will be part of a command centre operated by the City of Toronto and staffed by Toronto police leaders, emergency services and others who have handled massive gatherings including the Raptors’ NBA championship parade in 2019.
“There may be some who will say we’re over-preparing, and that’s fair,” Green said.
“But we know based on what’s happened in other places, better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.”
Metrolinx, the agency for Ontario’s GO Transit system, has also added extra trips and extended hours in some regions to accommodate fans looking to travel home.
A day before Swift’s first performance, the city began clearing out tents belonging to homeless people near the venue. The city said two people were offered space in a shelter.
“As the area around Rogers Centre is expected to receive a high volume of foot traffic in the coming days, this area has been prioritized for outreach work to ensure the safety of individuals in encampments, other residents, businesses and visitors — as is standard for large-scale events,” city spokesperson Russell Baker said in a statement.
Homeless advocate Diana Chan McNally questioned whether money and optics were behind the measure.
“People (in the area) are already in close proximity to concerts, sports games, and other events that generate massive amounts of traffic — that’s nothing new,” she said in a statement.
“If people were offered and willingly accepted a shelter space, free of coercion, I support that fully — that’s how it should happen.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Hundreds of Taylor Swift fans lined up outside the gates of Toronto’s Rogers Centre Wednesday, with hopes of snagging some of the pop star’s merchandise on the eve of the first of her six sold-out shows in the city.
Swift is slated to perform at the venue from Thursday to Saturday, and the following week from Nov. 21 to Nov. 23, with concert merchandise available for sale on some non-show days.
Swifties were all smiles as they left the merch shop, their arms full of sweaters and posters bearing pictures of the star and her Eras Tour logo.
Among them was Zoe Haronitis, 22, who said she waited in line for about two hours to get $300 worth of merchandise, including some apparel for her friends.
Haronitis endured the autumn cold and the hefty price tag even though she hasn’t secured a concert ticket. She said she’s hunting down a resale ticket and plans to spend up to $600.
“I haven’t really budgeted anything,” Haronitis said. “I don’t care how much money I spent. That was kind of my mindset.”
The megastar’s merchandise costs up to $115 for a sweater, and $30 for tote bags and other accessories.
Rachel Renwick, 28, also waited a couple of hours in line for merchandise, but only spent about $70 after learning that a coveted blue sweater and a crewneck had been snatched up by other eager fans before she got to the shop. She had been prepared to spend much more, she said.
“The two prized items sold out. I think a lot more damage would have been done,” Renwick said, adding she’s still determined to buy a sweater at a later date.
Renwick estimated she’s spent about $500 in total on “all-things Eras Tour,” including her concert outfit and merchandise.
The long queue for Swift merch is just a snapshot of what the city will see in the coming days. It’s estimated that up to 500,000 visitors from outside Toronto will be in town during the concert period.
Tens of thousands more are also expected to attend Taylgate’24, an unofficial Swiftie fan event scheduled to be held at the nearby Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Meanwhile, Destination Toronto has said it anticipates the economic impact of the Eras Tour could grow to $282 million as the money continues to circulate.
But for fans like Haronitis, the experience in Toronto comes down to the Swiftie community. Knowing that Swift is going to be in the city for six shows and seeing hundreds gather just for merchandise is “awesome,” she said.
Even though Haronitis hasn’t officially bought her ticket yet, she said she’s excited to see the megastar.
“It’s literally incredible.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Via Rail is asking for a judicial review on the reasons why Canadian National Railway Co. has imposed speed restrictions on its new passenger trains.
The Crown corporation says it is seeking the review from the Federal Court after many attempts at dialogue with the company did not yield valid reasoning for the change.
It says the restrictions imposed last month are causing daily delays on Via Rail’s Québec City-Windsor corridor, affecting thousands of passengers and damaging Via Rail’s reputation with travellers.
CN says in a statement that it imposed the restrictions at rail crossings given the industry’s experience and known risks associated with similar trains.
The company says Via has asked the courts to weigh in even though Via has agreed to buy the equipment needed to permanently fix the issues.
Via said in October that no incidents at level crossings have been reported in the two years since it put 16 Siemens Venture trains into operation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
