Survivors of forced sterilization gathered in Brandon, Man., Wednesday, demanding the passage of long-stalled legislation that would explicitly make the practice a criminal offence and sharing harrowing stories of how their reproductive rights were stripped away.

The rally marked a national day of action in support of Bill S-228, which would amend the Criminal Code to clarify that forced or coerced sterilization constitutes aggravated assault. That would make it punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

“We don’t want it to happen to our next generation,” said Priscilla Ireland, a survivor originally from Sioux Valley Dakota Nation. “It can never happen again.”

Ireland, a 60s Scoop survivor, was sterilized in December 1985 after signing papers at a hospital without understanding what she was agreeing to. She says the trauma from that procedure has rippled across her family.

The proposed law is a direct response to survivors like Ireland, who have been calling for accountability. A 2022 report released by the Senate’s human rights committee found forced sterilizations disproportionately affected Indigenous and Black women, people with disabilities and intersex children.

Sen. Yvonne Boyer, the bill’s sponsor, says the law is meant to stop physicians from conducting procedures without proper consent. 

Ireland said the law is needed to protect people, and is essential for healing and justice.

Valerie Shorting, originally from Swan Lake First Nation, knows that pain well.

After her baby boy died in her arms from meningitis in 1980, she was devastated. Soon after, a doctor recommended getting her tubes tied. She agreed in a haze of grief, she said.

“My mind was numb and I couldn’t process … to make that decision,” Shorting said. “So she went ahead with it.”

Years later, when Shorting asked to have the procedure reversed, she learned her tubes had been cauterized — something she never agreed to.

“It’s pretty harsh, you know, because the doctors, they’re supposed to be looking after our welfare,” Shorting said.

Seeing the bill passed would honour all women who have had similar experiences while protecting future generations, she said.

Issue of consent, bodily autonomy 

Kahsenniyo Kick, the public education lead for the Survivor Circle for Reproductive Justice — a national advocacy group —says it’s estimated between 12,000 to 15,000 people have experienced unwanted sterilization in Canada.

Her office continues to get reports from survivors, showing the issue is not just historical, but ongoing, she said.

Kick herself was sterilized when she was 17 years old, during the C-section delivery of her youngest daughter in 2005.

“I didn’t understand that I had rights. I didn’t understand what consent or coercion was,” Kick said. “It took a really long time for me to understand that I actually didn’t and wouldn’t have consented to this procedure.”

Though their consent, bodily autonomy and basic human rights were not honoured, many survivors don’t always know they have been sterilized, she said.

Kick encourages anyone who feels a medical procedure wasn’t truly their choice to seek information, stressing doctors must fully explain the permanency of procedures like sterilization and offer alternatives like birth control.

Kick added there is still a lot of stigma about talking about forced sterilization — especially for women, because it involves fertility.

“There’s a lot of shame, embarrassment and  even cultural attachment and connection to what that means to be a life-giver,” Kick said. 

“When you don’t have that ability, there’s a lot of emotions that come with it that can definitely make it challenging to talk about.”

Survivors supporting each other

The national day of action was born from survivors’ desire to create a space nationally for prayers and ceremonial intention around the bill’s passage, Kick said.

On Monday, she stood with other survivors in the House of Commons in Ottawa, where they received a standing ovation honouring their work.

“It was very overwhelming, and it was definitely a beautiful experience,” Kick said.

For Ireland, who was joined at the Brandon rally with her granddaughters, the fight is about protecting future generations from the pain she endured.

Ireland says she’s part of a growing circle of survivors supporting one another.

“This is all about healing and moving forward,” Ireland said. “Today’s a day of reckoning, and to share to the world what happened to us.”

But the federal government needs to address forced and coercive sterilizations in the country before they can fully move forward, she said.

Bill S-228 passed in the Senate last fall and will be debated in the House of Commons on Thursday.