Sharon Hayes, Reform MP for Port Moody-Coquitlam, has challenged the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Status of Women to clearly state the “utter rejection by Canadians of Chinese Government policies that endorse the mandated one child policy, the murder of inmates for body parts and now the consumption of human fetuses’ as health food.”
As Health and Family Critic for the Reform Party, Hayes referred to reports that “aborted human fetuses in China are being consumed by doctors and sold or offered as health food.” One female doctor admitted to eating 100 fetuses in the past six months.
Hayes questioned Canada’s participation in the Beijing Conference stating that “If our government insists on attending the fourth world Conference on Women in Beijing, it must not simply stand back and silently endorse such intolerable practices… “For the unborn to be consumed like vitamins defies any sense of human decency or respect for life.”
It seems that Hayes’ please fell on deaf ears. Not only did Sheila Finestone, Minister for Women’s Issues, head of Canadian Delegation and spokesperson for the Canadian Government promote feminist and gay-lesbian issues in Beijing; Finestone denied the reality and the consequences of the Chinese one child policy. In fact, upon returning to Canada from Beijing, in an interview with the Toronto Star, Ms. Finestone went so far as to say that the women she met support the policy. She said not one woman was uncomfortable with the policy and that she “did not hear about a forced abortion policy.”
