The A Word is aptly named. I’m always struck by how, even in Canada, people still feel compelled to whisper when they talk about abortion. It’s a legal medical procedure—we don’t whisper about appendectomies, heart surgery, or root canals. And yet abortion continues to carry, for many, a faint air of impropriety.

Survivors and family members of victims who criticize the current criminal justice system for not listening to the voices of survivors and for failing to keep them safe are right. We need to listen to their concerns and take steps to address them, but Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre’s law and order approach is not the way to go.