{"id":46093,"date":"2021-03-11T09:11:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T14:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=46093"},"modified":"2021-03-15T09:14:24","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T13:14:24","slug":"local-mla-megan-mitton-announces-pregnancy-and-a-push-to-make-accommodations-for-families-at-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/local-mla-megan-mitton-announces-pregnancy-and-a-push-to-make-accommodations-for-families-at-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Local MLA Megan Mitton announces pregnancy, and a push to make accommodations for families at legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congratulations are in order for Memramcook Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton. The local Green politician announced recently on social media that she is pregnant, and expecting early this summer.<\/p>\n

CHMA called up Mitton to get the news straight from the source:<\/p>\n\n

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\u201cMy family and I are excited to announce that we\u2019re expecting a baby early in the summer,\u201d says Mitton.<\/p>\n

As exciting as that news is, there are practical realities for Mitton to face, one of which is the lack of accommodations in place for new parents in New Brunswick\u2019s legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, there is no plan in place for when MLAs have babies,\u201d says Mitton. \u201cAnd the most recent MLA to have a baby while in office was Carolle de Ste Croix, and that was over 20 years ago now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Readers might recognize Carolle de Ste Croix as the director of alumni engagement\u00a0at Mount Allison, and the co-chair of the Tantramar COVID-19 Task Force. She also represented\u00a0Dalhousie-Restigouche East\u00a0as a Liberal MLA\u00a0from 1995 to 1999.<\/p>\n

Not much has changed since then, says Mitton. And it seems the lack of accommodations in policies is both a symptom and a cause of the lack of diversity in New Brunswick\u2019s legislature.<\/p>\n

The lack of supports in place, \u201csends a message that certain people aren\u2019t welcome in the legislature,\u201d says Mitton. \u201cThat young people and women, people who are wanting to start a family, they can\u2019t see themselves there.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mitton is looking at the situation as a challenge. \u201cWe can change this,\u201d she says. \u201cWe make the rules, so we can change this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitton is starting with some research and some easy fixes. Thanks to her request, legislature bathrooms will get change tables installed. Then there\u2019s the issue of an infant being considered a \u201cstranger\u201d on the legislature floor, and therefore not allowed to be present. Mitton is hoping for a rule change there so she can, \u201chave my infant with me as needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve looked at what has happened in other legislatures and parliaments, what rules need to be changed, best practices,\u201d says Mitton. \u201cAnd so I\u2019m hoping that my colleagues in the legislature will be on board with making these changes in order to make the legislature more gender inclusive, and make it so that ultimately, we would have better representation of all New Brunswickers.<\/p>\n

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The changes that Mitton will seek in New Brunswick are not new in Canada. Newly elected politician Aleana Young is the second ever Saskatchewan MLA to bring her infant into the legislature with her. Screencap: Erica Butler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cOne of my priorities is also making sure that when I need to take a period of time off to give birth, that there\u2019s support for my constituency office,\u201d says Mitton. New Brunswick doesn\u2019t have a lot of resources for MLA constituency offices, says Mitton, with only have one part time staffperson. \u201cThat\u2019s not enough on a good day,\u201d she says. The MLA hopes to get additional resources to help, \u201cmake sure that my office can can keep running and supporting everyone in the riding.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it stands now, Mitton is not entitled to maternity leave as an MLA, but she is hoping to change that, citing other jurisdictions where that\u2019s happened, such as Saskatchewan, Alberta, Quebec, and New Zealand. Jacinda Ardern was cited as the first world leader to take maternity leave, and the second to give birth while in office, after Benazir Bhutto in 1990.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d argue it\u2019s not rocket science,\u201d says Mitton. \u201cMost other workplaces have policies, so we can bring our legislative policies into this century, modernize them and make sure that they\u2019re supportive of MLAs who are expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Congratulations are in order for Memramcook Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton. The local Green politician announced recently on social media that she is pregnant, and expecting early this summer. CHMA called up Mitton to get the news straight from the source:   \u201cMy family and I are excited to announce that we\u2019re expecting a baby early…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":46099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3265,225],"tags":[],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46093"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46093"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=46093"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=46093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}