In response to the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights’ report The Scars that We Carry: Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Persons in Canada – Part II Opens in a new window, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) unequivocally denounces the practices of forced and coerced sterilization.
As the report details, forced and coerced sterilization have a long history in Canada. Laws and government policies rooted in racism and discrimination sought to reduce births in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, Black communities, and among people with intersecting vulnerabilities relating to social and structural determinants of health, ethnicity and disability. These practices have had a disproportionate impact on equity-relevant groups and those experiencing structural vulnerabilities in Canada. The medical profession must acknowledge its role and commit to upholding its ethical obligations.
The act of sterilization without informed and uncoerced patient consent is an absolute violation of fundamental tenets of medical ethics and the medical profession’s fundamental commitment to respect for persons, as articulated by the CMA Code of Ethics and Professionalism. The CMA supports the Senate committee’s recommendations to prohibit these practices and enhance training and regulation of medical professionals to halt these practices in the future.
Dr. Katharine Smart
CMA President
The Scars that We Carry: Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Persons in Canada – Part II
Survivors of forced and coerced sterilization deserve government apology, compensation: Senate committee
Ottawa – The federal government should compensate and apologize to all people who were subjected to forced and coerced sterilization, the Senate Committee on Human Rights said in a report released Thursday, July 14, 2022.
The report, The scars that we carry: Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Persons in Canada – Part II, outlines the committee’s findings from the second part of its study into this deeply disturbing practice, which persists today and disproportionately affects vulnerable and marginalized groups in Canada, including Indigenous women, Black and racialized women, and people with disabilities.
Survivors described how they were stripped of their ability to conceive without their free, prior and informed consent at moments of extreme vulnerability. Some were as young as 14 and coerced through confinement, manipulation or threats; others were simply not consulted before the procedure. Many survivors attributed their sterilization to racism in Canada’s health-care system.
The report includes 11 other recommendations aimed at ending forced and coerced sterilization in Canada, including a specific Criminal Code prohibition, increased investments in community-based midwifery in northern and remote communities, and a national plan to collect and publish anonymized data on forced and coerced sterilization.
The committee extends its heartfelt gratitude to the survivors who testified. The absence of data on forced and coerced sterilization placed a heavy burden on them to come forward and share their personal stories and lived experiences; their brave decision to do so was integral to the completion of this report.
Quick Facts
- Sterilization is a surgical procedure to prevent conception. Forced or coerced sterilization occurs when the procedure is performed without the patient’s free, prior and informed consent. This often has profound physical and psychological effects on survivors.
- The practice of forced and coerced sterilization of marginalized and vulnerable groups — including Indigenous women, Black women, people with disabilities and intersex children — has a long history in Canada; cases of forced or coerced sterilization have been reported as recently as 2019.
- Reproductive rights are considered part of the right to security of the person guaranteed by section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as numerous international law instruments.
- Class action lawsuits have been brought forward in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Alberta on behalf of Indigenous women who say they were subjected to forced or coerced sterilizations.
- The Senate Committee on Human Rights conducted a preliminary study of forced and coerced sterilization in Canada between 2019 and 2021. The committee released its first report on the subject in June 2021.