by Senator Yvonne Boyer & Senator Dan Christmas

Many believe that the forced and coerced sterilization of Indigenous women was a period in Canada’s colonial history that has long since passed. Tragically, this practice has been reported as recently as December 2018 in two separate incidents of coerced sterilization of Nêhiyaw women in Saskatchewan and in Manitoba. It is becoming increasingly clear that the practice of forced and/or coerced sterilization has been and is currently happening across Canada where there are high population statistics of Indigenous women.

Mi’kmaw women in our communities must be aware that this may have happened to them too and they must become aware of the problem so they can protect themselves against this abuse in the future. No woman should be forcibly sterilized. It is against the law. If a woman decides, for example, to undergo a tubal ligation, she must consent. It is her right, and her right alone to make that decision. Traditionally, birthing was viewed not only as a valuable contribution to the family and community, but as a strengthening of the relationships to the land, nature and cultural relationships, and as a way to teach and transfer knowledge to the youth involved in serving at the ceremony of sacred birthings. Forced sterilization is the fracturing of these important relationships that ends the ability of a woman to give birth and thus harms the whole community.

Senator Yvonne Boyer has been working on the issue of forced and coerced sterilization for seve ...

 

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