In keeping with contemporary Christian views on contraception, the dissemination of information and the possession of materials relating to birth control were illegal in Canada.
On September 14, 1936, 28-year-old Dorothea Palmer was arrested in Eastview (now Vanier, Ontario), where a large number of people of French-Canadian or Irish ancestry made up the town's population of about 4,000.
[2][3] As she was working for the Kitchener-based Parents' Information Bureau (PIB), her arrest could have led to the collapse of the organization and as many as two years' imprisonment for Palmer.
[6]: 2 Ultimately, the case was dismissed by the presiding magistrate Lester H. Clayton, who ruled that, as Palmer's actions were "in the public good," no charges could be held against her.
[6]: 44 In his final ruling, he explained that: The mothers are in poor health, pregnant nine months of the year ... What chance do these children have to be properly fed, clothed and educated?