House of Commons passes bill criminalizing forced sterilization

OTTAWA — The House of Commons has passed a long-awaited law criminalizing forced or coerced sterilization.

The law states that sterilization without legal consent constitutes aggravated assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Survivors and advocates have been pushing for a change to the Criminal Code since 2015.

The Survivors Circle for Reproductive Justice estimates as many as 15,000 Indigenous people have been sterilized without their consent since the 1890s, some as recently as last year.