Here’s why this Sudbury women’s right advocacy group is set to strike

On the second year anniversary of the day the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, there will be a global movement across more than 30 cities, including an event in Sudbury.

The decision eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in America and inspired a global conversation around inaccessible reproductive healthcare.

Women’s Strike Sudbury is organizing a strike to be held on June 24 at Bell Park. The event will be held from noon to 3p.m. The organization was created just over two weeks ago by Mia Valliere and Annie Blodgett. Valliere says it was to fill a hole in the women’s movement in northern Ontario. 

Vailiere says it was the anniversary that inspired them to start the organization. It’s “a day that I think the hearts of every woman, every ally, everyone who’s ever loved a woman, just stopped. I knew that I had to be a part of it. And I knew that there were people in my life who would feel the same way.”

But Valliere says the infringement on women’s rights isn’t just an American issue. It has also been under attack in the Canadian House of Commons. 

She points to Bill C-311 that was introduced by Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall in January 2023. It encouraged judges to consider physical or emotional harm to a pregnant victim as an aggravating factor under the Criminal Code. While the MP stated the legislation had nothing to do with abortion rights, it sparked a debate around abortions. The Liberals, NDP and multiple women’s groups concluded the legislation was a veiled attack on access to abortion.

According to Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, it was just one of at least 48 anti-choice private member bills or motions introduced in Canada’s Parliament since 1987.

Valliere says the strike will aim to highlight this ongoing fight for reproductive freedom and justice. 

She is encouraging women and allies to attend the event. “A very wise professor once told me that change doesn’t happen because people in power gather in a room and say, hey, maybe we’ve done the wrong thing. Change happens because people demand that it does, and I truly believe that.”

‘The major issue in Canada is not legislation, it’s access’

“You can’t pass a law to protect the right of abortions. It’s actually going to be counterproductive. It’s going to open the door to restrictions,” said Suzanne Zaccour, the director of legal affairs at the National Association of Women and the Law.

She explains the difference between Canada and the U.S. is the different legal framework. “Canada is a country where there is no criminal restriction on abortions. Abortion is never criminal, which is exactly the state of the law that we want.”

She says the major barrier to abortion is not legislation but rather access. She points to cities that are further away from densely populated areas where they have a lack of access to services and adequate information. 

According to Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada lists, there’s only one abortion clinic in Sudbury: Health Sciences North’s Options Clinic.

But, she explains access to abortion is only half the problem. We also need “access to free contraception,” access to unbiased, science-based and feminist sex education and “freedom from sexual violence, which can force pregnancies and force abortions.”