Since the beginning of the XXe century, many women underwent interventions that altered their reproductive capacities when they were young, healthy and able to carry a pregnancy safely to term. As part of the eugenics movement, medical staff offered women tubal ligation from an early age, without being adequately explained what the procedure was, or being asked if they wanted more children, and without they are offered other methods of contraception.
These stories do not date from another era, but still represent a current reality for First Nations and Inuit women in Quebec.
In 2013, Indigenous women in Saskatchewan announced that they had been sterilized under threat and pressure from medical personnel. A collective action is being considered to this effect. A Senate committee was then set up to investigate the matter further. At that time, the Government of Quebec refused to participate, on the pretext that the representatives of the Minister of Health, Danielle McCann, were already “sensitized” to the question and that no case of forced sterilization had been denounced in the context of the testimony of the Viens commission. This claim was false, which has just been confirmed by a study conducted by Professor Suzy Basile of the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue for the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission.1.
Already, in February 2019, an open letter co-signed by seven Indigenous researchers and organizations2 highlighted the lack of knowledge on the subject in Quebec and asked that more in-depth research be conducted to document the subject of forced sterilizations in Quebec.
The research report unveiled last week3 teaches us that First Nations and Inuit women in Quebec have been victims of forced or non-consented sterilization in a free and informed manner, during childbirth, for example.
Patients interviewed for this research also say they still feel mistrust and fear about the quality of care they receive in health institutions, which leads them to reduce their contact with the health network. Some of them have not consulted a gynecologist for more than 20 years.
Another finding of the report confirms the existence of differential treatment in hospitals with regard to First Nations or Inuit women based on prejudices according to which these women are problematic patients and neglectful mothers. This is called “systemic racism”.
Therefore, we claim:
– the immediate cessation of forced sterilization as well as all other forms of obstetrical violence perpetrated on First Nations and Inuit girls and women in Quebec;
– we invite all stakeholders to read the report and ensure that each recommendation will be implemented to put an end to systemic racism against First Nations and Inuit women in the Quebec health system.
* Co-signers: Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador; Marjolaine Siouï, General Manager of the FNQLHSSC; Suzy Basile, professor, School of Native Studies, UQAT; Edith Picard, Wendat Elder; Grand Chief Savanah McGregor, Anishnabeg Tribal Council; Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty, Cree Nation Government; Marjolaine Étienne, President, Quebec Native Women