A Chemainus couple who allege their baby was injured during birth is suing the Duncan childbirth advocate they hired, who is permanently banned from acting as a midwife.
The couple say in a civil claim filed in Victoria last week that they hired Gloria Lemay to provide guidance and support during the birth of their son in 2021.
They claim Lemay did not disclose that she has never been a licensed midwife and that she has been permanently banned from acting as a midwife since 2000.
They are suing Lemay over alleged injuries to their child’s genitals and reproductive capabilities during an 18-hour home labour before they decided to go to the hospital against Lemay’s advice.
None of the allegations has been tested in court and Lemay has not yet filed a response in court.
The couple, whom the Times Colonist is not naming to protect their son’s identity, allege Lemay’s behaviour was “malicious reckless, and highhanded,” and say her conduct constitutes “negligent misrepresentation.”
The couple claim Lemay provided “no reasonable or appropriate care, guidance or support during the labour,” after arriving at their home around 8 p.m. on Dec. 18, 2021.
They claim she conducted improper and infrequent examinations of the mother, at times snoring loudly during the labour, and told them the baby was not in a breech position, despite concerns from the couple.
She wrongly assured the couple “that a fleshy mass protruding during labour was a ‘vulvar edema’ and that she had seen and dealt with such issues previously, despite this mass being the [child’s] swollen scrotum exiting the birth canal,” the civil claim alleges.
The couple eventually went to hospital, where the baby was born via cesarean section. They claim Lemay refused to go to hospital with them and told them not to mention her involvement in the labour.
Lemay describes herself on one of her websites as a childbirth activist, birth attendant and midwifery educator. She says she has been a keynote speaker at childbirth conferences and has travelled throughout North American and Australia teaching midwifery.
She has been the subject of two public advisories by the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives, which warned in 2016 and early 2024 that Lemay was representing herself as a midwife.
In January this year, the college obtained a warrant to search Lemay’s home and seize evidence related to her unauthorized practice of midwifery, in response to recent reports that she may have been providing midwifery services and performing “restricted activities” under the Midwives Regulation without authorization.
The college said it would review the evidence seized and determine its next steps. On Monday, the college called it “an evolving legal matter” and said further information will be provided when available.
Midwifery is a regulated profession in B.C. and only people registered with the college can call themselves a midwife, provide midwifery services or perform acts reserved for midwives, the college said by email Monday.
Lemay is not and has never been registered with the college and is not entitled to practise midwifery in B.C., the college’s most recent advisory said. She is the subject of a permanent court order banning her from providing midwifery services and using the title midwife.
“The unauthorized practice of midwifery poses a significant public safety risk, and the college continues to receive reports of unfortunate and tragic outcomes,” it said.
Twenty-six incidents, the majority of which included significant harm to the birthing person and fetal or neonatal deaths, were reported to the college in the past two years and 14 providers are currently being investigated, the college said.
In 1985, Lemay was charged with criminal negligence causing the death of a baby boy in Vancouver. She was convicted in B.C. Supreme Court, but the conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled the fetus was not legally a person.
She was fined $1,000 in 1995 for refusing to give evidence at an inquest probing the death of a baby in 1994. The infant died of cardiac arrest as the result of an infection during delivery.
When midwifery became regulated in 1998, Lemay was invited by the college to take exams to demonstrate her competency but she chose not to.
On her website, Lemay criticizes the regulation of midwifery, saying “the midwifery movement is losing its alternative nature and becoming more and more like the medical model it was supposed to replace.”
