Protesters demand end to forced sterilization
REGINA Indigenous leaders from across Saskatchewan marched to the Legislative Building on Tuesday morning, calling on the provincial government to take “immediate action” to prevent more Indigenous women from having forced sterilizations.
In 2017, Saskatchewan law firm Semaganis Worme Lombard launched a class-action lawsuit in Saskatoon against the federal and provincial governments, specific doctors and the health region, saying the plaintiffs were forced to have a tubal ligation without their full and prior consent. Currently around 100 Saskatchewan women are represented in the lawsuit.
“All of them were in the throes of labour and it was put to them that they needed to have this sterilization procedure, which is an entirely elective procedure. It had no medical emergency behind it,” Helen Semaganis, a lawyer with the firm, told reporters on Tuesday.
One of the lawsuit’s main plaintiffs, whose name is protected by a publication ban but who was referred to as S.A.T., said she was sterilized in Saskatoon in 2001 at the age of 29.
“What was done to me was wrong. I’m doing this to protect our future generations, our daughters, our granddaughters, our nieces. We need to protect all Indigenous women and girls,” she said, noting she came forward with her experience in 2015 along with a handful of other women.
“Something sacred was taken away from me. I demand immediate action to resolve and fix this, fix what has happened to all the women in Saskatchewan.”
Semaganis said that although the Saskatchewan Health Authority and Saskatchewan government have been aware of the alleged cases of forced sterilization for several years, she believes it continues to happen. She was contacted by an Indigenous woman in December 2018, alleging she had been recently forcibly sterilized in a Moose Jaw hospital.
“We’re here today to demand immediate action so that this does not continue to happen,” Semaganis said. “We are hoping that nothing has happened since December 2018, but we don’t know that. It should not have happened to begin with after filing suit and giving notice to those who need to be informed.”
Starting with a pipe ceremony at the First Nations University of Canada, Heather Bear, the vicechief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, Chief Margaret Bear of Ochapowace Nation and Chief Lynn Acoose of Sakimay First Nation marched with supporters to the Legislative Building. Outside they spoke about how forced sterilization is a continuation of violence against Indigenous women.
Bear said what shocks her even more than the number of women that have undergone forced sterilization is the federal and provincial governments’ apparent lack of action on the issue.
“It’s one of the greatest transgressions against our people ... that has revealed itself in the last few years, very disturbing,” she said.
“I want to see criminalization of this act . ... It is a true violent act toward women. I mean, how much more blatant can you get?”
Semaganis said a second class-action lawsuit was filed in Manitoba this past August, and that a “shocking” number of women across the country have come forward with similar stories.
“A lot of them, now that we’ve come out and we’re giving a lot more public awareness to this issue, are saying that they at least don’t feel like they’re alone, so there’s some support out there,” she said.
By raising more public awareness of the issue, Semaganis hopes that more women will be willing to step forward with their experiences and that governments will be pushed to action.
I want to see criminalization of this act . ...
It is a true violent act toward women. I mean, how much more blatant can you get?