Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have a chance to finish the speech that I was just getting started on. In my speech, I talked about how, in the conversation around fetal alcohol disorder, it can be hard for mothers to admit to drinking alcohol during pregnancy. They are often embarrassed to admit it, especially if they have said that they stopped drinking when they found out they were pregnant.

Unfortunately, scientific research tells us that consuming alcohol can be most harmful to the fetus in the first trimester. By that time, the damage is already done.

Scientists started talking about fetal alcohol syndrome in 1968. The first case was described by a French pediatrician, Paul Lemoine, but it was not until 1973 that the syndrome was officially recognized. That means that some people over the age of 43 may have the syndrome, but may not have been diagnosed at birth because the condition was not recognized then.

Individuals aged 43 and up might have this problem, be in the prison system, have a criminal record, and be misunderstood because of this health condition. What is more, sometimes it can be a challenge to look to the past to determine whether it is a case of fetal alcohol disorder because that requires a record of drinking during pregnancy. The mother may already be deceased making it impossible to establish whether alcohol was consumed during the pregnancy or not.

This is important to note because there is a clear link between fetal alcohol disorder and criminal behaviour. An estimated 60% of people with fetal alcohol disorder will have run-ins with the law in their lifetime. That is a very high number. Sixty percent is more than one in two people and that creates problems. These are persons who are more easily influenced by the ill-intentioned people around them. These are persons who struggle with judgment, which makes them more susceptible to being lured by others into a life of crime. There are many effects—

Christine Moore

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