1 month ago - The amount of forced and coerced sterilization, and those pertaining to indigenous women is not documented. There is evidence that these forced procedures occurred/are occurring. Two hospitals in Saskatchewan (Fort Qu’Appelle and North Battleford) are known to have had these sterilizations ...

July 13, 2023 - Medical authorities in Canada’s Northwest Territories issued a series of punishments in May in what may be the first time a doctor has been sanctioned for forcibly sterilizing an Indigenous woman, according to documents obtained by the AP. The case involves Dr. Andrew Kotaska, who performed an operation to relieve an Indigenous woman’s abdominal pain in November 2019. He had her written consent to remove her right fallopian tube, but the patient, an Inuit woman, had not agreed to the removal of her left tube; losing both would leave her sterile.

In October 2017, a proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in Saskatchewan from more than 100 women across Canada who reported they were forced to be or were coercively sterilized,7 thus demonstrating the lived experiences of Indigenous women.8 However, although Alisa Lombard indicated that ...

respond to the recent cases of forced or coerced sterilization of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis women in Canada.

September 27, 2023 - The Canadian government says it is urgently trying to end the forced sterilization of Indigenous women, describing the practice as a human rights violation and a prosecutable offense.

March 15, 2025 - While a national organization seeks to track cases of forced sterilization of Indigenous peoples across Canada, Inuit women in the North say the practice hasn't ended. Three women shared their stories with us.

According to eugenic theory, the high rates of ill health and poverty in Indigenous communities were evidence of a lower racial evolution — not the result of colonialism and government policies — and reinforced a view that Indigenous people were “unfit.” The criminalization of Indigenous women and the policing of their sexuality contributed to their being labelled “bad mothers,” unfit to care for their children. They were also subjected to coerced or forced sterilization.

September 13, 2023 - Author and activist Morningstar Mercredi is calling for the criminalization of forced and coerced sterilization, in the hopes that women — especially First Nations, Inuit and Métis women — will never suffer the physical and mental trauma it inflicted upon her.

November 26, 2024 - The Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador is launching a new research project aimed at documenting the forced sterilization of First Nations and Inuit women in Quebec.

December 15, 2025 - In 2025, Denmark issued a formal apology to the thousands of Inuit women and girls, some as young as 12, who were forcibly sterilized in Greenland between the 1960s and 1990s in a eugenics program that was designed to curb Indigenous birth rates ...

November 25, 2022 - Researchers at a Quebec university collected the stories of more than 35 First Nations and Inuit women, who recounted their experiences with forced sterilization and imposed abortions in Quebec — a practice that had not yet been studied in ...

Inuit, Métis and First Nations women in Canada are coming forward like never before, sharing their experiences of being forced or coerced to undergo surgical sterilization. Advocates say the practice is still happening and they want it criminalized.

June 4, 2021 - Until 1972, Alberta had a law requiring the forced or coerced sterilization of people considered “mentally defective.” In British Columbia, the same law existed until 1973. ... “Persons deemed ‘mentally defective’ were not alone as targets — Eastern Europeans, as well as Inuit, First Nations and Metis people, were also disproportionately targeted and sterilized...

This report outlined the testimonies of 35 women who experienced or witnessed acts of obstetric violence, imposed abortions and or Forced and Coerced Sterilization between 1980 to 2019 (14 Atikamekw, 10 Innu, 5 Anishinabe, 4 Eeyou, and 2 Inuit).

August 27, 2021 - Between 1966 and 1976, over 1,000 women would have undergone forced sterilisation in public hospitals, residential schools, and mental facilities. Over the same period, the birth rate within the communities reportedly fell from 47 to 28 per ...

July 8, 2025 - Through our advocacy work on forced sterilization, we confront a deeply troubling practice that has violated the bodily autonomy of Indigenous peoples since the 1930s, with documented cases as recent as 2019. In partnership with organizations like Amnesty International, Action Canada, and Inter Pares, we’ve elevated this issue to international human rights bodies while developing educational resources on informed consent, reproductive health options, and complaint processes.

The Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador is launching a research project into the coerced sterilization of First Nations and Inuit women in Quebec. The organization is inviting women who think they may have been sterilized without ...

April 18, 2019 - A proposed class-action lawsuit alleging the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women in Canada is turning up reports from more than 100 women who say it happened to them.

July 30, 2025 - Amnesty International is advocating alongside partner organizations to end forced and coerced sterilization of Indigenous peoples in Canada.