Liberal Government Votes down Bill to address violence against pregnant women
By Cathay Wangantall MP | Cassie and Molly's Law, Featured, Home, Media Releases | No Comments
Liberal government votes down bill to address violence against pregnant women as family of the tragic murder victim watches
Ottawa, ON – Last night, the Liberal government voted down Bill C-225, Cassie and Molly’s Law, a Private Member’s Bill introduced last February by Yorkton-Melville MP Cathay Wagantall that sought to protect pregnant women and their future families from violent crime.
Named in reference to the 2014 murder of Cassandra Kaake in Windsor, Ontario, when Cassie was weeks away from giving birth to her daughter, Molly, Cassie and Molly’s Law would have filled a gap in the Criminal Code, where there are currently no specific provisions to protect pregnant women from criminal offences.
As Liberal MPs rose in the House of Commons to vote down Bill C-225, Jeff Durham, Cassie’s former partner and Molly’s father, and Nancy Kaake, Cassie’s mother, sat and watched as their hopes for common-sense legislation to prevent another family from suffering a similar tragedy was denied by the government.
Quotes:
“Jeff and Nancy have worked so incredibly hard to advocate for this bill because they never want to see another family struck by the unimaginable tragedy they suffered when Cassie and Molly were taken from them. Violence against women is a pressing issue, and it is disappointing that the government wouldn’t put partisanship aside to support a Private Member’s Bill that took one step towards preventing tragedies, denouncing violence and supporting victims.”
– Cathay Wagantall MP
“Nancy, Cassie’s mother, and I put together what money we could to come to Ottawa to meet with Liberal MPs in an effort to build a dialogue and show them why this bill was needed. It was profoundly difficult. There are families who had to do this before us, and it is disturbing to imagine that now there will be others who will have to do it again. The outcome has disappointed us beyond words.”
– Jeff Durham, founder of Molly Matters, father of Molly
Quick Facts:
A poll, commissioned by MP Wagantall, from Nanos Research shows 97% of Canadians support a woman’s right to choose an abortion under varying circumstances and that nearly 70% of Canadians are supportive of Cassie and Molly’s Law, with support among women even higher at nearly 75%.
The legal experts at the leading constitutional law firm Supreme Advocacy have confirmed the constitutionality of Bill C-225 in a thorough report.
A Statistics Canada Study revealed that during 2004-2009 over 60,000 Canadian women were victims of domestic violence while pregnant.
Cassie and Molly’s Law has been endorsed by the Native Women’s Association of Canada and the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime.
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Media Contact:
Gail Sparrow, Legislative Assistant
Cathay.Wagantall.a1@parl.gc.ca
613.992.4396
SEE THE NEWS RELEASE: news-release-cathay-wagantall-en-october-20-2016