Canada Rally backs lawsuit alleging forced sterilization of Indigenous women

© BRANDON HARDER A group of people march down Legislative Drive demanding an end to forced sterilization of Indigenous women and girls.

Indigenous leaders from across Saskatchewan marched to the Legislative Building 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 the women giving full and prior consent. Currently around 100 Saskatchewan women are represented in the lawsuit.

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Sixty Indigenous women have sued the Saskatoon Health Region, the province of Saskatchewan, the Canadian government and medical professionals for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said recently that the “coerced sterilization of some Indigenous women is a serious violation of human

A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed against the Government of Alberta on behalf of Indigenous women who say they were subjected to Celeste Poltak, a lawyer with the Toronto-based firm Koskie Minsky LLP, said coerced sterilization of Indigenous women is "yet another dark

“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.

© BRANDON HARDER A group of people finish a march at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, to which they marched demanding an end to forced sterilization of Indigenous women and girls.

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 forcefully 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.

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Three Japanese pensioners have filed separate lawsuits against the government over irreversible damage caused by forced sterilization conducted under Japan’s eugenics law The trio, two men and a woman , are among at least 16,500 people who were forced to give up their right to procreate.

Indigenous women in Canada have been subjected to forced sterilization in public hospitals, going back many decades and into 2018. Attorney Alisa Lombard represents several women in civil litigation against the relevant healthcare providers and governmental entities alleged to be

“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, 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. 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,” said Semaganis.

Starting with a pipe ceremony at the First Nations University of Canada, Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) Vice Chief Heather Bear, Chief Margaret Bear of Ochapowace Nation and Chief Lynn Acoose of Sakimay First Nation marched with supporters to the Legislative Building. Outside they spoke on how forced sterilization is a continuation of violence against Indigenous women.

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Coerced sterilizations of Indigenous women in Saskatoon troubling: Bennett. According to the summary of claim, the term "coerced sterilization " refers to One of the two women in the lawsuit is Anishinaabe and a victim of the Sixties Scoop. She was sterilized at the Royal University Hospital in

WATCH ABOVE: The allegations of forced - sterilization of indigenous women was discussed during No Canadians should tolerate allegations of forced sterilization in their country, Saganash said Maurice Law is leading a proposed class-action lawsuit against the federal government, the

Bear said what shocks her even more than the number of women that have faced 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 in August 2019, and that a “shocking” number of women have come forward with similar stories all across the country.

“A lot of them are, 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.