As she built support, Betty felt that the missing element was direct contact with the women they wanted to help. They decided to open a Crisis Pregnancy Centre to reach women with the good news that Jesus loves them and their babies, and they do not need to abort.
In October 1984, Malcolm MacInnes found a small office at 5584 Yonge Street (Suite 16), the North York Crisis Pregnancy Centre opened its doors. A CPC help line was started and Catherine, his wife, took on the task of answering the phone and counselling the first woman who made an appointment. She remembers being more nervous than the client. All this was very timely – it was the same year that Toronto’s first free standing abortion clinic also opened.
Malcolm MacInnes became the first Chairman of the Board. The acting Centre directors were Flora Compton, Catherine MacInnes, and Betty McPhee, while Barbara Dowds ran the first training seminar for counsellors at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). In those early days, a number of doctors from the Missionary Health Institute and the North York General Hospital supported the CPC at personal financial sacrifice, and directed clients to the centre.
