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From Lake of the Woods Enterprise

Local lawyer files $1.8 billion class action lawsuit - Demands labels be placed on liquor bottles warning women of the dangers of drinking while pregnant

Posted By Jon Thompson - April 13, 2009 

Kenora lawyer Doug Keshen has served the federal government and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario with a $1.8 billion lawsuit, demanding that labels be placed on liquor bottles warning women of the dangers of drinking while pregnant.

He said his clients have seen the enormous social and economic cost Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder or FASD has placed on the shoulders of society and are looking to put the responsibility into the hands of the public to stem the suffering.

With three decades of Aboriginal law behind him, Keshen has spent the last seven years raking together five filing drawers full of material on FASD.

“Our position is that the government of Canada and the liquor control boards in the province have breeched their duty to protect and sufficiently warn its citizens of the harms inherent in consuming alcohol during pregnancy. It is not sufficient to put warning posters in restaurants or LCBOs, it has to be on the bottle, it has to be graphic.”

Research is mounting, he said, that even a single drink consumed while pregnant can have effects on the fetus.

“My clients are intent on bringing attention to the powers that be of the damage, anguish, heartache, and catastrophic consequences as well as personal tragedies that arise when a woman consumes alcohol while pregnant.”

Keshen was clear that any settlement reached will entirely be distributed to clients, many of whom have requested it be donated to FASD prevention, medical and diagnostic research, and family support such as summer camps.

Eagle Lake First Nation and the Ojibwe Nation of Saugeen are named in the suit with Pikangikum, Lac Seul, Grassy Narrows, Whitefish Bay, and Northwest Angle #33 playing a supportive role.

“I want to make it clear that this is not an issue that is exclusive to Aboriginal people, I just happen to work with Aboriginal people. The fact of the matter is that there are countless numbers of white middle class and rich women who are addicted to alcohol and who drank while pregnant and who as a result produced an FAS child.”

Keshen has been consulting with those who are affected by the gears of FASD in Kenora from Calvin Skead, Louis Cameron and Tommy Keesick at the street level to psychologists Dr. Laurence Hunt, Dr. Peter Hettinga, KACL’s Jim Retson, and pediatrician Dr. Peter Harland, who he said “work tirelessly” to support those living with the disorder.

This is not a matter of putting the responsibility on government for mothers drinking, he explained. Saying his clients want to be “part of approaches to a solution,” he is looking to take the responsibility for healthy alcohol consumption off of government and into the community. “It’s not just faulting governments,” he explained. “It’s a wakeup call to families and communities that they have to take responsibility for their own actions and the results of those actions…There is a fiduciary obligation. Health Canada puts warning labels on so many products, pharmaceutical products, cigarettes. Why have they held back on the one that has caused the most devastation, which is alcohol?”