Tubal ligations of Indigenous women ‘troubling’: Bennett
Reports that women in and around Saskatoon were being coerced into tubal ligation procedures are evidence of racism in a health-care system that remains biased against Aboriginal women, Canada’s Indigenous affairs minister says.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Carolyn Bennett called last week’s report “completely troubling” and a sign that some doctors are still willing to project onto certain patients what they consider an “optimal family size.”
“It is a very paternalistic approach,” Bennett said. “I think that we yet again are confronted with the racism in all of our institutions.”
The report was researched and compiled by Yvonne Boyer, a lawyer and a Canada Research Chair at Manitoba’s Brandon University, and Dr. Judith Bartlett, a physician and researcher.
They documented how some Indigenous women from Saskatoon and the surrounding area were coerced into having their Fallopian tubes clamped or severed after giving birth in hospital.
Most of the women who were interviewed for the report either did not recall consenting to the procedure, or did so because they were exhausted and too overwhelmed to fight any longer, the researchers found.
Their report also suggests the tubal ligations were justified as an effort to help Indigenous women manage the size of their families.
“The doctors and nurses say, ‘It’s for your benefit,’” one woman told the investigators. “‘You have all these children. Enjoy her while you have her.’” Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett speaks as AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde looks on at the Assembly of First Nations annual general meeting in Regina, Sask. Bennett says she’s troubled by reports of Indigenous women in and around Saskatoon being coerced into tubal ligation procedures.
In response to the findings, the Saskatoon Health Region said it deeply regrets what happened, acknowledging it failed to treat the women with the respect, compassion and support they deserve.
It requested the external review after patients went to the media to raise awareness about what they experienced.
Bennett, a physician herself, said discrimination in health demands urgent attention, noting it can be very difficult for patients to deal with health care providers
who have an unconscious bias.
She also pointed to a 2015 report, entitled “First Peoples, Second Class Treatment,” that explored racism in the healthcare system and recommended improving the collection of Indigenous health data to prevent racism from causing disparities in care.
Indeed, allegations of racially motivated mistreatment are not limited to police and the justice system, Bennett said.
“It is in my profession, too,” she said. “I think everybody is very
aware that it is not just the social determinants of health that are responsible for the gaps in health outcomes, but actually the quality of care they receive.”
Boyer and Bartlett suspect the experience of the women in Saskatchewan is likely not exclusive to the province, adding a broader look would help determine the extent to which the problem exists elsewhere in Canada.
Indigenous women who shared their stories for the report are also seeking a national review, they added.
MONTREAL
Forget Vancouver and Toronto — Canada’s hottest housing market these days may be Montreal.
The Greater Montreal Real Estate Board released data Friday showing that 3,075 homes were sold in July, an increase of 16 per cent compared with a year ago and the most for the month in eight years.
That contrasts with Toronto, where sales last month plunged 40.4 per cent while in Vancouver they dropped 8.2 per cent.
The price of homes in Montreal was also higher, albeit still well short of levels seen in Vancouver and Toronto.
The median price of a singlefamily home in Montreal rose to $323,000, up eight per cent from July 2016. The median condominium price edged up two per cent to $256,000.
“For single-family homes, market conditions for resales are increasingly favouring sellers, which explains why price increases have been more sustained in recent months,” Mathieu Cousineau, president of the GMREB board of directors, said in a statement.
While much attention has been focused on Vancouver and Toronto, Montreal’s housing market has escaped the frenzied action that prompted the B.C. and Ontario governments to take action.
In April, Ontario introduced more than a dozen measures to improve home affordability, including a 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers. Since then, the average price for all properties sold in Toronto has shaved off nearly $175,000 from its peak of the year of $920,791, but it remains up year-over-year.
In Vancouver, the province imposed a 15 per cent foreign buyers’ tax a year ago and the volume of transactions immediately tumbled.
While the number of sales in the city cooled last month, the composite benchmark price for all residential properties in the area cracked $1 million for the first time, coming in at $1,019,400, up 8.7 per cent from July 2016.
The slowing pace of sales in Vancouver and Toronto has also come as mortgage rates have started to move higher with the Bank of Canada’s increase in its key interest rate target last month.
The increase by the central bank prompted the big Canadian banks to raise their prime lending rates, which pushed variable-rate mortgages higher. Bond yields also moved up, affecting the rates offered on new fixed-rate mortgages.
Ottawa tightened mortgage lending rules late last year, including the introduction of a stress test for all insured mortgages.
“For single-family homes, market conditions for resales are increasingly favouring sellers, which explains why price increases have been more sustained in recent months.”
Mathieu Cousineau, president of the GMREB board of directors