A trial gets underway in BC Supreme Court today, challenging the cancellation of a program at the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Maple Ridge.
Before it was cancelled five years ago, the program allowed babies born during a woman's incarceration to stay with their mothers.
Kasari Govender is Executive Director of West Coast Leaf.
It’s an organization that works to further women's equality.
It argues the cancellation goes against mothers' and babies' equality rights, and says the program should be reinstated.
"One of the arguments around the babies is that nobody can be discriminated against on the basis of family status, your relationship to a family member. And in this case, because a child's mother is incarcerated, they're denied the ability to live with that mother, to maintain regular contact, daily contact with that mother."
The trial is set to last until June 21st.