These women’s descriptions of their feelings about the adoption, how it impacted their mental health at the time and for decades afterward—including crippling depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, inability to form meaningful relationships, fear of having more children or having those children taken away from them, and suicide attempts—and their desperation to locate their lost children in later years were some of the most powerful accounts I have ever read as a student of history. I tried to weave many of them into Maggie/Evelyn’s thoughts and emotions about being forcibly separated from Jane/Nancy.
I extend sincere gratitude （along with my deepest condolences） to the women who have, over time, shared their heartbreaking experiences with interested researchers. I could not have brought this story to life without your bravery and willingness to relive your trauma.
But now, dear reader, I will ask you to hold my （non-alcoholic） beer as I climb up onto my soapbox. Because these women deserve more than my thanks.
They deserve justice.
According to Statistics Canada, between 1945 and 1971, almost 600,000 babies were born to unmarried mothers, their births recorded as “illegitimate.” Researcher Valerie Andrews has estimated that over 300,000 mothers in Canada were forced or coerced into surrendering their babies for adoption within the postwar-era maternity home system under what she has termed the “white adoption mandate.” These programs were funded by both the federal and provincial governments.
In late 2017, Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology undertook a study of the postwar maternity home program. The committee heard from witnesses who gave testimony regarding the irreparable psychological and emotional damage they suffered as a result of this system. Of the several religious organizations （including Catholic, United, Anglican, and Presbyterian churches, and the Salvation Army） that delivered these programs on behalf of the government, only the United Church agreed to participate in the Senate’s study and admit any responsibility whatsoever.
Based on the results of the study, in July of 2018 the committee put forth a recommendation to the Government of Canada that it should publicly acknowledge that this practice took place, and stated unequivocally that the government should issue a formal apology to the women and children who were deeply traumatized and whose lives were forever changed by the maternity home system and the forced adoption mandate. The Australian federal government extended an unconditional apology to survivors of its maternity homes in 2013, as did the government of Ireland in early 2021.
As of the time of writing, no such apology or reparation proposal has been offered by the Government of Canada. This is a government that has （as it should） issued formal apologies to various groups that have suffered appalling treatment at the hands of—or by willful blindness of—the Canadian government throughout its severely pockmarked history. Yet it has inexplicably ignored the very straightforward recommendations from its own Senate committee to issue a similar apology to those impacted by the maternity home system.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
If Maggie and Evelyn’s stories stirred a sense of grief or outrage in you, I would strongly encourage you to call or write to your Member of Parliament and demand that action be taken immediately. I worked in politics for several years, and I know from experience that enough squeaky wheels can actually make a difference. So get loud on social media, email your MP, and call the prime minister’s office to express your outrage at his government’s inaction.
I encourage you to add your own voice to the voices of the 300,000 women who were wronged by our own government. Many of these voices are forever silenced, as the women who owned them are no longer living. The Senate committee deliberately pointed out in its report four years ago that time is running out to provide some measure of justice for the aging survivors, yet the government has, to date, taken no action.
You can visit my website for more information on the Senate committee’s report, and how you can help get justice for these women and their families. Head to www.heathermarshallauthor.com/justice.
A NOTE ON REPRESENTATION
Looking for Jane is a work of fiction, but its story has a solid foundation in historical fact surrounding underground abortion networks and the postwar-era maternity home system/forced adoption mandate in Canada. With that said, my coverage of government-sanctioned and church-run institutions that served to separate mothers from their children is by no means exhaustive. Looking for Jane surrounds the postwar maternity home system specifically, but the Canadian government—combined primarily with the Catholic Church—has an appalling history of forcibly dividing families. In another mandate referred to as the Sixties Scoop, the government of Canada systematically separated Indigenous children from their families, where they were then put into foster care, adopted into non-Indigenous homes, or sent to residential institutions under the guise of “education,” where they were abused and—in many cases—killed. It is not my place to tell these stories, but I would like to acknowledge them here and strongly encourage my readers to self-educate.
Acknowledgments
This is probably the part of the publication process I was looking forward to the most, where I get to gush about all the wonderful human beings who helped bring Jane to life.
First, thank you to my phenomenally talented and dedicated powerhouse of an agent, Hayley Steed. You truly deserve your own page in my acknowledgments; I am so very lucky to have you. Thanks also to the entire team at the Madeleine Milburn Agency for believing in me right from the start and recognizing Jane’s potential. The team at the MM Agency has without a doubt changed my life forever and made my dream come true. I can never thank you all enough.
Thank you to Sarah St. Pierre and Sara Nisha Adams, my editors at Simon and Schuster Canada and Hodder Studio, for your immediate and unwavering enthusiasm for Jane and everything it represents. You ladies are amazing, and your editorial talent and incredible eye for character development have helped make this novel everything it was meant to be. You’re both a joy to work with. Thanks also to the rest of Team Jane at Simon and Schuster （Dave Cole, Rita Silva, Melanie Pedersen, and Adria Iwasutiak）， and Hodder Studio （Bea Fitzgerald, Katy Blott, Juliette Winter, Maria Garbutt-Lucero, Natalie Chen, Libby Earland, and Ellie Wheeldon） for all your hard work on this project.
Thanks to my beloved first readers Denise, Kim, Marilyn, Angela, Laurie, Jenn, Mallory, Cara Beth, Sarah, Lauren D., Lauren F., Katie, Lindsay, Yoda, and Alli, who provided invaluable feedback on the first draft of this novel. You got to read Jane in her first iteration （of many!）， and you hold a special place in my heart for doing so.
To my legal and medical “consultants” and badass friends Sarah Donohue and Dr. Cara Beth Lee, who graciously answered my questions about the ins and outs of 1970s criminal law and the abortion procedure, respectively. Thanks also to Jen and Andrea Dunn for sharing the details and realities of your IUI journey with me; you helped bring Angela and Tina’s story to life. Please send big hugs to C and C, your two little heartbeats.
To the incomparable Judy Rebick, for your time, the beer, and your recollections on the Canadian abortion rights movement. You breathed life into all the women and allies who took astonishing risks and made incredible sacrifices to help secure reproductive rights for my and future generations of Canadians. We are forever in your debt.