Vice chief takes coerced-sterilization fight to Ottawa
SASKATOON Heather Bear is not giving up on her goal to have coerced sterilization outlawed.
The vice chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations is in Ottawa this week to deliver closing submissions to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. She is scheduled to speak early Wednesday afternoon.
Bear said she also intends to meet with Senators Yvonne Boyer and Lillian Dyck about sponsoring a bill to amend the Criminal Code.
“We have a country of chiefs that are behind this,” Bear said. “And we need to make this country accountable for a major transgression on the women.”
Bear was commenting on a report released last week by the United Nations Committee Against Torture that calls upon Canada to “adopt legislative and policy measures to prevent and criminalize the forced or coerced sterilization of women.”
The Canadian Press subsequently reported that federal justice minister Jody Wilson-raybould is declining to change the Criminal Code to explicitly ban coerced sterilization, preferring a public-health approach to the issue.
The Committee Against Torture report also calls upon Canada to “clearly (define) the requirements of free, prior and informed consent with regard to sterilization and by raising awareness among Indigenous women and medical personnel of that requirement.”
The involuntary sterilization of Indigenous women came to the committee’s attention after reports of alleged cases surfaced in Saskatoon in 2015. In January 2017, the former Saskatoon Health Region launched an external review, led by Boyer and Dr. Judy Bartlett. Their report was released in July 2017. A proposed class action lawsuit was launched in February 2018.
About 100 women have come forward, according to the most recent reports.
Bear said she also plans to work the issue into her comments to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls inquiry. In an interview, she described coerced sterilization as a “total intrusion” upon the sovereignty of the woman.
She considers it an act of sexual violence against women, she said.
“I believe this is relevant here, and I’m looking for recommendations and for action.”
In its report, the Committee Against Torture also noted the health region’s external review, but said it “remains concerned at the lack of information regarding the implementation of the ‘calls to action’ included in the final report, especially those related to reparations.”
Asked to comment on that part of the report, Bear said she supports an offer of compensation without having to go through court.
“I think any decent authority would do that,” Bear said. “Why do our victims have to be continually going to court to get redress? Our system should be better than that in this day and age.”
She also called for some type of oversight of the health authority to ensure policy changes are effective.
In a written statement, the Saskatchewan Health Authority said since the release of its external review it “has been working on a plan to address the root causes of these inequalities and discrimination.”
The report has been shared with front-line staff, physicians and other health-care providers, and “further improvements to the consent process and policy related to tubal ligation have now been recommended through the guidance of our advisory council,” the statement said.
The improvements are now going through the approval process.
Last winter, the SHA established an advisory council on the future of health care in the province. It’s working with the SHA regarding the 10 calls to action contained in the external review, along with “detailed plans being created or implemented in relation to those recommendations,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, cultural training of staff is ongoing.
“In Saskatoon, all our maternal services nursing staff have received cultural competency training, and this group, along with our physician staff, have received further education on informed consent,” the SHA reported.
Why do our victims have to be continually going to court to get redress? Our system should be better than that …