Dorothea Palmer (Ferguson) (1908 – 1992), a former employee of the Parents' Information Bureau, was arrested and charged under section 207(c) of the Criminal Code for advertising information on family planning and birth control by means of a pamphlet. Palmer was acquitted on March 17, 1937 when her actions were deemed to have been carried out in the interest of the public good or pro bono publico. Palmer is honoured for her role in advancing family planning in Canada. Biography Palmer was born in England in 1908. Palmer immigrated to Canada in the mid-1920s from England, where she had trained in Sheffield as a social worker. She owned and operated a bookstore called the Egoist Book Shop, with her husband Gordon Ferguson at the corner of O'Connor and Laurier, in Ottawa, Ontario. She also began working on behalf of the Parents' Information Bureau (PIB) in 1936. Funded by A. R. Kaufman, the wealthy owner of the Kaufman Rubber Company in Kitchener, Ontario, and prominent eugenics supporter, the PIB distributed information about family planning and birth control. The organization employed roughly 50 people like Palmer in cities across Canada. Her participation in the PIB aligned with work she had previously undertaken in Britain where she came up with the slogan "If you can't change your tactics, at least use prophylactics," targeted at English soldiers going off to war. Eastview Birth Control Trial On September 14, 1936 at the age of 28, Palmer was arrested and charged under section 207(c) of the Criminal Code, which stated that the selling or advertising of contraceptives was illegal. She was arrested for promoting contraception to women in the poor Roman Catholic Ottawa community of Eastview. At the time, 1,000 of the 4,000 people living in the area were on social assistance, many with large families. During questioning at the police station, Palmer expressed her belief that: "A woman should be the master of her own body. She should be the one to say if she wants to become a mother." Palmer had been working with the PIB for six months when she was arrested and had visited approximately 100 families based on doctor referrals. When visiting a home Palmer would explain various contraceptive methods, including demonstrations about how they worked. Those interested in gaining access to the material for their own use would sign a form and later be sent a birth control kit that