iinnii-antifa:

A few things about eugenics/sterilization in Canada from someone who knows too much about it for their own mental well being

(content warning for ableism, violence, misogyny and racism): 

– Involuntary/coercive sterilization was one part of a multifaceted strategy of eugenics that included restrictive marriage laws, immigration restrictions, and segregation of people considered unfit for public space in institutions. Canada is still chock full of these structures of power, so it comes as no surprise that involuntary/coercive sterilizations continue.

 – The biggest proponents of eugenics in its earliest form were political parties associated with “progressive” causes, including the “Famous Five” suffragettes and Tommy Douglas, who saw it as essential to preserving the integrity of the Canadian social safety net.

 – Sterilization without consent was perfectly legal in Canada for 44 years, mainly in the Western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. In Alberta alone, under the Sexual Sterilization Act, of the total number of individuals sterilized, 64.7% were women, 49.8% were from rural communities, 40.6% were unemployed, 20.55% were characterized as housewives, 25.7% were Indigenous (a disproportionately high number considering Indigenous people made up only 3.4% of the total population in Alberta at the time), and 70.6% were under the age of 20. Most of the individuals who were sterilized were characterized at the time of being approved for sterilization as being “mentally unfit”, but a number of cases involved patients “recovering from retardation” after sterilization. 

– Eugenics emerged in the midst of a moral panic about sexual relationships between Indigenous women and white settler men, and exaggerated hysteria about Indigenous and “feeble minded” women engaging in sex trade work. 

– The Alberta Eugenics Board disbanded in 1972. Many of the people who served on the board are still alive. There is no record of them ever facing any professional consequences for what they did, even though the Alberta government and apologized to some of the victims after Leilani Muir’s lawsuit. This includes John M. MacEachran, who co-founded the Canadian Psychological Association and was co-founder of the department of Psychology and Philosophy Department at the University of Alberta. Until 2003, an award in his name was given out by U of A, “honoring his accomplishments”. 

I’m saying all this because the horrors of involuntary sterilization and colonialism are not an accident. They’re a part of Canada’s national fabric. They’re a part of what made Canada a state. And the fact that they continue today, long after the laws supporting them were formally struck down, should come as no surprise.