Forced sterilizations of Indigenous women must end, right now

The forced sterilization of Indigenous women remains a shameful chapter in the troubling history of how Canada has treated — and mistreated — the original inhabitants of this land.

But the latest reports that this barbaric practice continues in this country in 2018 — in several provinces as well as the territories — carry the shock value of a stun gun.

How could it be that in the second decade of the 21st century, a significant number of Indigenous women still say they are being bullied and harassed into signing the papers that will result in their sterilization through tubal ligation?

How could it be that many of these women say they were coerced into signing those consent forms when they were actually in labour, when they were in pain and under stress and, in many cases, on an operating table feeling the disorienting effects of an anesthetic?

How could doctors, nurses, social workers and health service managers not only permit this harmful, unethical practice to continue but participate in it?

How is this still happening in a Canada that has repeatedly promised to achieve reconciliation with its Indigenous Peoples? Why hasn’t forced sterilization stopped?

The evidence that something very wrong is happening is overwhelming. About 60 women have joined a class-action lawsuit against the Saskatoon Health Region, demanding millions of dollars in compensation for what they say were forced sterilizations.

Alisa Lombard, an associate with Maurice Law, a firm leading the proposed class-action suit, says she’s heard from other First Nations women in Saskatchewan as well as Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario who told her they had been sterilized without proper and informed consent.

Records show the practice has been prevalent in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, too, she says.

More lawsuits against more governments could be coming. And sad as all this is, it’s hardly breaking news. A report released in the summer of 2017 painted a grim picture of how health-care staff working for the Saskatoon Health Region harassed Indigenous women who were giving birth into having tubal ligations.

A health region official apologized. But how can anyone feel confident the practice isn’t still going on in Saskatoon this week?

Canadians need to know more about a medical practice that smacks of racial discrimination, violates fundamental individual liberties, can cause permanent trauma and could well constitute physical assault. Canadians also need to know coerced sterilization will stop immediately and forever.

It is only somewhat reassuring to hear the recent admission from Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott that the forced sterilization of Native women “is a very serious violation of human rights.”

She says Canada must ensure the practice ends with policies, education and awareness-raising.

That sounds to us like vague public relations. Ottawa should send out a directive explaining to provincial and territorial health ministries that Indigenous women will no longer suffer the indignity of forced sterilization. If the law needs changing, change it.

Just as importantly, the government should heed Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde and Yvonne Boyer, a Métis lawyer who is now a senator for Ontario. Both want Ottawa to launch a comprehensive investigation into forced sterilization that would reveal the full scope of the problem.

Parliament should move quickly but carefully to honour their request, fully involving Indigenous leaders and communities as it does so.

The job of reconciliation, it’s clear, just got bigger.