Gloria Lemay – The Other Side

In an impassioned Substack written by Yolande Norris-Clark, who had the joy of birthing two healthy children with the help of Gloria Lemay (a local), we move past the sensational, rage-provoking headlines of our local news to a much deeper picture of the woman – who she is, and her long history of practicing the tradition of natural birthing.

Yolande delves into the long history of government overreach and forced regulation:

“The regulation of midwifery, and in particular, the slandering of independent traditional birth attendants, is a back-handed attempt to indirectly dominate birthing women, which, in the end, is in service to the long-term project of controlling population, sentience, and human life entirely. The objective of the state appropriation and medical usurpation of midwifery all over the world is totalitarian control, architected as part of the techno-feudalist movement to homogenize medicine, healthcare, and biology itself. This isn’t a new phenomenon—these cycles of institutional crackdowns on birth and birthwork have been playing out for ages. But during the 1980s and 1990s, a new and more subtle disciplinary strategy emerged. Instead of stamping out midwifery completely, the medical cartel would simply assimilate it. This was aided by harnessing the enthusiasm for midwifery and homebirth that had fomented within the counterculture movement, using the iconic Ina May Gaskin to great effect as an advocate for regulation. Thus, midwifery was rebranded.

The new, ‘official’ sanctioned midwifery was midwifery in name only. In reality, it resembled—wait for it—obstetrics! What a surprise! Many of the independent midwives who had been working in BC (and throughout Canada) prior to regulation acquiesced and entered into these re-education programs, eager to reap the promised benefits of the endorsement and protection of the system, but most of these women were filtered out, intimidated and dismayed by the hoops they were made to jump through, the humiliations they were made to endure, and the disorientation of having to completely revamp their practices and perspectives to align with a highly medicalized, bureaucratic, regimented approach to birth.  A few women, however, held out and politely declined to comply with the medical commandeering of a sacred vocation, which many view as antithetical to state control. Gloria Lemay was one of them.”

Yolande’s love and respect for Gloria’s work is easily felt throughout this Substack. Yolande birthed her first (and second) child with Gloria by her side after firing her “licensed” midwife, whom she quickly realized was far from ‘alternative’. She notes, “The simple, inarguable truth—and a truth that Gloria saw clearly—is that it is not possible to serve two masters, let alone those whose interests may potentially be in conflict.”

After firing her “official/sanctioned” midwife, Yolande was allegedly routinely harassed throughout her pregnancy by the BC College of Nurses and Midwives for not complying and opting for Gloria. It is evident throughout that Gloria was the inspiration behind Yolande’s passion and advocacy for years to come around “free birthing” and midwifery. In one section of the Substack, she recalls loading her first child up in late July of 2002 and taking the long trip via ferry and bus to stand alongside many other supporters, parents, and grandparents outside the Vancouver courthouse in support of Gloria as she was sentenced to “five months in jail and twelve months’ probation for supposedly violating a court injunction prohibiting her from practicing midwifery without a license.”
Yolande recalls: “The atmosphere at Robson Square was celebratory and defiant. We knew exactly what this was. It was a witch hunt. And like most witch hunts, there was no witch—only a woman whose true power and courage represented an immense threat to the repressive, tyrannical cult of medicine. During the court proceedings, Gloria was referred to as ‘incorrigible.’ She responded by saying, ‘I hope I am incorrigible. I hope that until the day I die, I fight for women’s freedom to have who they want in their own bedroom to help them give birth to their baby.’”

Yolande expresses her deep compassion for all mothers who lose their babies as she recounts how she herself has lost four before 14 weeks. She points out how 300,000 people die from medical malpractice in the U.S. yearly but notes that, “When a baby dies at home, however, the automatic assumption is almost always that there was some element of recklessness, irresponsibility, or stupidity involved, and there will be an attempt, at least, to lay blame. In the context of freebirth, the mother herself will likely be held culpable. But in the case of an attended homebirth, the obvious scapegoat is the birth attendant—especially one who is unlicensed, unregistered, and operating outside the system.” Yolande points out that Gloria has attended well over 2,500 births during her lifetime—numbers that rival any “registered” midwife or obstetrician.

Now, as Gloria sits in jail awaiting her judgment, we reflect on the knee-jerk reaction so many in our community had to the headlines posted on Facebook and the front page of our local newspaper—drawing outrage and a pitchfork-grabbing mob mentality. We can also reflect on the fact that when something traumatic happens in one’s life, there is often a need to “make sense” of it or have a place to lay the blame.

Yolande ends the article with this:
“This impulse to condemn permeates the public social media post written by the father of the baby who died a year ago, during the birth that Gloria apparently attended. I won’t share the text here (it’s readily searchable), but it’s full of rage, conspicuous contradictions, and, above all, a wholesale abdication of any personal responsibility as a parent. This man describes being ‘victimized’ by Gloria Lemay, and his post implies that Gloria maliciously convinced him and his wife to invite her to attend their child’s birth. He also blatantly states that she is responsible for the fact that his child tragically died.”

No parent should ever lose a child, whether in utero, at birth, or before the parent passes. The grief is inconsolable and long-lasting. However, we must walk lightly in the blame game, for sometimes nature is at play. Often the medical establishment is to blame, as the statistics show, and yes, there can be human error.

Let a woman devoted to the age-old practice of women helping women give birth have her day against the machine—the establishment that can run like a bulldozer over anyone who does not step in line. We have these examples even just from the past few years during COVID, many of the cases now being vindicated. Can we all slowly put down the oil-soaked rags and remove the pyres of wood, placed at the behest of bureaucrats that now make up the new College of Nurses and Midwives?

It is time to question not just the systems that suppress individuals like Gloria Lemay but also our own willingness to accept these narratives without deeper thought—because true justice demands more than compliance; it demands courage, empathy, and a commitment to seek the truth.

{At the time of this writing, Gloria Lemay sits in Maple Ridge – Aluoette Correctional Centre for Women pending her bail hearing for manslaughter.}

The whole article can be searched via Substack: Bauhauswife, with the title “The (Attempted) Martyrdom of Gloria Lemay.”

Just as we were going to print, we heard from another fan/friend of Gloria’s who had this to say, “I met Gloria Lemay back in about 2014ish. We picked the Hilton Hotel at Metrotown in Burnaby, because there was a convention of companies producing canned milk for babies. A dozen people with signs, including a baby in arms, stood on the public sidewalk for a couple of hours. Nestle, the world’s biggest producer of baby milk, fled the scene and bailed out of the conference. A few months ago, Gloria Lemay put on a seminar up there in Duncan: “How to catch a baby.”. I really wanted to take it but couldn’t manage to do so.
I went to the Victoria Courthouse yesterday and got a copy of the civil lawsuit. Court file no. VIC-S-248960. Tanner Ellingson Kristin Allan Plaintiffs/GLORIA LEMAY Defendant.

The claim is very well written with high-calibre lawyering. Originated by lawyer Rajinder Sahota in Victoria / Moe Sahota’s law firm.