As the preliminary hearing for Matthew Brush got underway a group of protesters were outside the court house demanding changes to the Canadian judicial system.
Matthew Brush is charged with one count of first degree murder for the death of Cassandra Kaake who was seven months pregnant at the time. He is also charged with arson with disregard for human life, arson causing property damage, possession of incendiary material for arson, break and enter and indecent interference with a dead body.
The father of the unborn child Jeff Durham says the courts should recognize his daughter Molly as a person.
"I think it's insanity the way that it is right now. That the Canadian criminal judicial system ignores this life, my daughter's life, our family, this was my family," says Durham. "The Canadian judicial system doesn't recognize my daughter as a human being that was offended against. The charges don't represent the reality of the crime."
The preliminary hearing for Brush is expected to last seven days. All evidence in the hearing is under a publication ban.
Durham has started a petition under the heading "Molly Matters" to get the government to change the laws. He says this shouldn't affect abortion laws in any way.
"We're trying to make is so a woman's choice is only ever hers, no one elses," says Durham. "In this case Molly was less than ten weeks from being born. She was perfectly viable, she was my daughter, she was Cassie's choice."