Table Of ContentContents
Acknowledgement
Preface
Introduction
1. Eugenics, Feminism and the Woman Question
The Birth of an Idea
Eugenics in Canada
Eugenics and the Woman Question
Eugenic Feminism: Maternal Feminists, Suffragettes and “Other” Women
2. Indian Policy and Aboriginal Women
Historical Context and the Indian Act
Indian Policy and Health
Indian Policy, Sexuality and Motherhood
3. Sterilization, Birth Control and Abusive Abortions
Controlling Births with Birth Control
To Sell, Advertise and Distribute Openly
Sterilization and Birth Control in the North
Sterilization by Number
The End of the Line
4. Settling the Past
Settling the Past: Courts, Cash and Compensation?
After the Act: British Columbia
Compensation and Aboriginal Women
5. Canada, Genocide and Aboriginal Peoples
Raphaël Lemkin and the Crime Without a Name
From Draft to Convention: A Compromise with Consequences
Canada and the Genocide Convention
Genocide and the Canadian Criminal Code
Canada and the International Criminal Court
Genocide and Aboriginal Peoples Today
Conclusion
References
Index
Copyright © 2015 Karen Stote
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means without
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Editing: Penelope Jackson
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Published by Fernwood Publishing
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Fernwood Publishing Company Limited gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Government of
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Stote, Karen, 1980-, author
An act of genocide : colonialism and the sterilization of Aboriginal
women / Karen Stote.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-55266-732-3 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-1-55266-754-5 (epub)
1. Native women--Health and hygiene--Canada. 2. Native women--
Canada--Social conditions. 3. Sterilization (Birth control)--Law and
legislation--Canada. 4. Sterilization (Birth control)--Government
policy--Canada. I. Title.
HQ767.7.S76 2015 363.9’70971 C2015-900658-9
C2015-900659-7
If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have
come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work
together.
Aboriginal Activists Group, Queensland, 1970s
Acknowledgement
R
esearching and writing this work has been much more than an academic exercise and
as with all works, it did not get written in isolation. It was inspired, shaped and fueled
by countless people with whom I have been fortunate enough to engage, either face to
face or through correspondence, books and documentaries. It is meant as a statement
of solidarity with those who have consistently resisted an unjust system which treats all
of us poorly and continues to deny Indigenous peoples the right to exist on their own
terms — it is offered in the belief that a better world is possible. This manuscript began
as a doctoral dissertation and was made possible through much support and
encouragement. To the Department of Native Studies at St. Thomas University and all
those I met during my time there, thank you for stimulating many of the ideas found in
this work, for providing an environment where real learning could take place and for
employing me in times when I needed a job! To my supervisory committee, Andrea
Bear Nicholas, Linda Eyre and Linda Kealey, for helping me through the longest part of
this journey each in your own way, and to David Bedford, Nicole O’Byrne and Pamela
Palmater for your constructive criticisms and encouraging comments as this work took
its final shape as a PhD thesis. Thank you to Ward Churchill and Mary Eberts whose
comments on sections of this work did much to strengthen some of the arguments
made within. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
provided financial assistance without which much of this work would have been
difficult to complete. A big thank you is due to Fernwood Publishing for supporting
this work and bringing it forward in its current form. Finally, to my family, my friends
and my partner: thank you for loving me, supporting me and always reminding me of
the beauty and hopefulness of life.
Preface
S
ince I began this project, people have often asked about this research and once filled
in they tend to respond in one of two ways. Some react with a sense of disbelief that
they have been kept in the dark about this piece of Canadian history, and this is most
often followed up with a statement referring to the fact that this must be something
that happened long ago. Many Canadians carry a mistaken assumption that crimes and
abuses against impoverished, marginalized and Aboriginal women are a thing of the
past and that perhaps things are not perfect, but overall people are making out okay
today. On the other end of the spectrum, some respond with various comments
relating to the fact that although not ideal, something needs to be done about people
having children they cannot afford. A practicing physician with whom I spoke retorted
that today, those who should be reproducing are now seeking sterilization of their own
volition while others are allowed to have as many children as they please. Someone else
equated childbirth by poor women with the failure of pet owners to sterilize their
animals as a step towards preventing overpopulation. In between those who think
crimes committed by the state do not happen today and those who would promote the
coercive use of the state apparatus for racist and/or economic ends are those who
categorize this work as Aboriginal history. To all of this I would like to respond by
clarifying what this work sets out to do and where it is coming from.
It is important to point out that although some of those coercively sterilized were
Aboriginal, others, too, were also victimized by this practice. By focusing on
Indigenous women, I do not mean to disregard this fact. I also do not purport to speak
on behalf of Aboriginal peoples. I hope this work is useful to and serves as a statement
of solidarity with Indigenous peoples here, but I believe it is left to those victimized by
Canadian policies and practices to speak for themselves about their experiences and
what these have meant for them, in their lives and as peoples. I have tried to provide a
bigger picture which will, hopefully, help to inform these experiences and help us all
understand many of the forces that influence how and why injustices like this happen.
My main argument is that the consistent undermining of Aboriginal women and their
reproductive lives through policies and practices like coercive sterilization has been
part of a longstanding attack against Indigenous ways of life in an effort to reduce those
to whom the federal government has obligations, and in order to gain access to lands
and resources. Coercive sterilization should not be viewed in isolation from the larger
context in which it has taken place, just as other policies such as residential schools
cannot be separated from the larger purposes they have served, or their effects which
continue to be felt today. As Patricia Monture has written, the impact of these policies
is greater than the sum of their individual wrongs and the harms extend to all
Aboriginal peoples as individuals and communities. Even though the experiences of
those impacted by Indian policy in Canada differ greatly, the ties between these
originate in a system based on the expropriation of Indigenous lands and resources,
and mediated by a government that has had the elimination of the “Indian problem” as
a central goal since its very inception.
This work consists of a historical recount of Canadian bureaucrats, policy makers
and so called humanitarians proposing, enacting and implementing policies and
practices that have sought to open up access to or legitimate ownership over
Indigenous lands and resources. It consists of a history of Canadian state, medical and
philanthropic organizations subjecting Aboriginal peoples to practices and policies
they, by and large, did not ask for or need, and for which they have yet to be
compensated. In this sense, the history dealt with here is very much a Canadian history.
Indigenous peoples have absolutely resisted, adapted and survived in the face of
policies and practices such as those discussed, and they will most likely continue to do
so into the future. By speaking of the victimization of Aboriginal women by Canadian
laws and practices, I do not mean to deny this fact. Yet, this active and ongoing
resistance is not the subject of this work. Through research and scholarship which
highlights some of the injustices faced by Aboriginal peoples, I seek to call Canadians
to task. In our ignorance and complacency many of us do not even recognize the harm
