Amnesty calls for accountability on coerced sterilization of Indigenous women

The issue of forced sterilization of Indigenous women has been on Amnesty International’s radar for some time, she added, pointing to a large body of work regarding the practice in Peru and the Americas.

But she called it “deplorable” that reports indicate it is still happening in Canada, especially when the country has committed to reconciling its relationship with Indigenous Peoples.

Coerced sterilization was raised at the UN in May when Canada’s entire human-rights record was up for review, Hansen said, noting she hopes the committee against torture will ensure Canada is accountable and compliant with international human rights obligations.

Systemic bias against Indigenous women in policing is well-established and known, she added, and it also exists in the provision of health services to Indigenous people.

Sen. Yvonne Boyer said Monday she welcomes Amnesty’s call for an outsider to examine the practice and collect data on its prevalence. She said she’s heard from Indigenous women in different parts of Canada who have suffered it.

In 2017, Boyer produced a report with Metis physician and researcher Dr. Judith Bartlett detailing how Indigenous women were coerced into tubal ligations — the severing, burning or tying of the Fallopian tubes that carry eggs from the ovaries to the uterus — after childbirth in the Saskatoon Health Region.

A class-action suit was launched the same year and about 60 women have joined it.

“There’s lot of research that needs to be done,” Boyer said. “The report that Dr. Bartlett and I did was just a mere glimpse into the problem.”

Boyer also said the special representative should be Indigenous and that the issue must be examined with an Indigenous framework.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday on Twitter that the sterilization of Indigenous women is a grave rights violation and he demanded the federal government immediately end what he called a dehumanizing and harmful practice in all corners of the country.

In an interview last week, Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott said Canada must ensure the practice stops through policies, education and awareness-raising.

“The issue of forced sterilization of vulnerable people, including Indigenous women, is a very serious violation of human rights,” she told The Canadian Press.

In response to Philpott’s remarks, Hansen stressed the importance of accountability — making sure medical and child-welfare workers who bully unwilling women into life-changing surgeries are held responsible.

“Yes, awareness-raising is important,” Hansen said. “Yes, policies are important. But there also is a piece around accountability … We want to make sure this just doesn’t happen again and for that to happen, there’s a number of jurisdictions that are involved.”

—Follow @kkirkup on Twitter

Kristy Kirkup, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Amnesty calls for accountability on coerced sterilization of Indigenous women

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