Decades after many other rich countries stopped forcibly sterilizing Indigenous women, numerous activists, doctors, politicians and at least five class-action lawsuits say the practice has not ended in Canada
A Senate report last year concluded “this horrific practice is not confined to the past, but clearly is continuing today.” In May, a doctor was penalized for forcibly sterilizing an Indigenous woman in 2019.
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 Geneva Conventions describe forced sterilization as a type of genocide and crime against humanity and the Canadian government has condemned reports of forced sterilization elsewhere, including among Uyghur women in China.
“Sterilization of women without their informed consent constitutes an assault and is a criminal offense,” the government said. The more than 600 Indigenous communities, known as First Nations, face significant health challenges compared to other Canadians. Suicide rates among Indigenous youth are six times higher than their counterparts and the life expectancy of First Nations people is about 14 years less than other Canadians.
“I could smell something burning,” she said. “When the was finished, he said, ‘There: tied, cut and burnt. Nothing will get through that,’” Tuckanow said, referring to her singed fallopian tubes. She said she hadn’t consented to the procedure. “I went into a catatonic stage and had a nervous breakdown,” Mercredi wrote in her 2021 book, “Sacred Bundles Unborn.”
“In my residency, there were situations where we would do C-sections on patients and someone would lean over and say, ‘So we’ll also clip her tubes,’” he said. “It never crossed my mind whether these patients had an informed conversation" about sterilization, he said, adding he assumed that had happened before patients were on the operating table.
Dr. Ewan Affleck, who made a 2021 film, “ The Unforgotten,” about the pervasive racism against Canada's Indigenous people, said the way forced sterilization happens now is more subtle than in the past. He noted an ongoing “power imbalance” in the country's health system. “If you have a white doctor saying to an Indigenous woman, ‘You should be sterilized,’ it may very likely happen,” he said.
“My mother had always told me she wanted more children but that she didn’t have a choice,” Anita Cardinal said. Describing Kotaska’s actions as “a violation of his ethical obligations,” investigators suspended Kotaska’s medical license for five months, ordered him to take an ethics course and reimburse the cost of the inquiry. The Northwest Territories health department said it was the first time a “non-consensual medical procedure” had been referred for investigation.There was no suggestion in the documents that Kotaska was motivated by racism. Kotaska declined to comment to the AP.
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