Eugenics in Canada: Choice, Coercion and Context

Abstract

In this chapter, Erika Dyck explores Canada’s history of eugenics by situating these debates within concurrent discussions about feminism, birth control, reproductive rights and indigenous feminism. It argues that attitudes towards eugenics and birth control were far from uniform across the country, particularly as the legacy of population control and colonialism continued to plague discussions of Aboriginal rights in the 1970s. Although the language of sterilization changed during this period from one associated with coercive eugenic practices to an operation sought by choice, the spectre of population control fuelled ideological reactions to a new era of reproductive health options.