OTTAWA -- The former Conservative government's signature maternal health initiative treated women like baby-making machines, the head of a United Nations agency said Tuesday.
Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), said he had little opportunity to speak his mind on the issue when Stephen Harper was prime minister.
Osotimehin said Harper's international maternal health policy, dubbed the Muskoka Initiative, "made a difference, but I think what we are trying to make out here is that we should not treat women just as bodies that deliver babies but actually as human beings with rights and dignity."
The UN officer made the comments in Ottawa while attending the Canadian launch of the agency's 2015 report on the world's population. The report provides a disconcerting account of the condition of women and girls in a "world in crisis."
Osotimehin was also in the city Monday for the Liberal government's announcement it was providing $5 million to the UNFPA for the distribution of contraceptives.
Harper launched his maternal health policy for mothers, children and newborns during the 2010 G8 Summit in Muskoka, Ont.
Since then, Canada stopped providing money to the UNFPA for contraceptives.
The UNFPA describes itself as the world's largest distributor of contraceptives for the public.
"At the conference in Toronto, even (Harper's) announcement reluctantly said it would also include (money) for contraceptives. But we never got any funding for contraceptives."
Sandeep Prasad, executive director at Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, stood alongside Osotimehin at the news conference and said Harper's health initiative "instrumentalized women as child bearers and prioritized the lives of mothers over other women.
"It excluded and neglected safe abortion and contraception, respectively, despite the evidence of the necessity of these two interventions."
Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose defended the Muskoka Initiative, saying she was sorry to hear such criticism.
"I think it's a really unfortunate comment," Ambrose said. "At last count, it had saved the lives of six million women and babies. It is a highly respected program."
Ambrose refused to take a position on abortion or funding the procedure abroad.
Prasad applauded the Trudeau government's decision to fund the UN agency's contraceptive-distribution program.
"There are 225 million women and girls in the world who want family planning and they are not getting it," Osotimehin added.
The Harper government received international criticism for its refusal to fund abortion in developing countries, a policy the Trudeau government hasn't yet changed despite promises to do so.
Prasad said he is waiting for Trudeau to change his predecessor's policy, adding he had the patience to wait "another few months."
