
Indigenous women kept from seeing their newborns until agreeing to sterilization - DyslexicAtheist
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-november-13-2018-1.4902679/indigenous-women-kept-from-seeing-their-newborn-babies-until-agreeing-to-sterilization-says-lawyer-1.4902693
======
blumomo
The article doesn't say anything about _why_ and _who_ made the order to
sterilize the indigenous.

It looks tempting to believe that there's a motivation to make this particular
indigenous race vanish.

Who wants that? And why?

~~~
teunispeters
Historically it was Canadian policy. You'd probably have to look to the 1930s
(start of forced sterilization) or the 1880s (start of policy of suppression
of indigenous peoples) to find out where, when, why and how. And as to why
it's never stopped? How long have Indigenous people in Canada been protected
by human rights? And how long between setting that policy and people getting
used to the idea? (2008-2013 through various steps, and probably 2-3
generations at least, if people stop teaching the racism as "correct")

I live in Saskatoon, in a predominantly First Nations area. People here are
not treated well by just about anyone.

~~~
blumomo
I've always thought of Canada as a very tolerant country. That hostility is
surprising to me.

When you say that people in Saskatoon are not treated well by just about
anyone, how do you experience that over there?

------
ncr100
Tubal ligations:

> At least 60 Indigenous women are pursuing a class-action lawsuit launched
> last year, alleging they underwent forced sterilizations over the past 20 to
> 25 years in Saskatchewan.

------
zenexer
As someone who's never even been to Canada, this article makes little sense to
me. Who are these Indigenous people, and why would anyone want to do this to
them? Skimming some of the other comments, it seems I'm not alone in this
sentiment.

That's what racism looks like from the outside. To people who've lived their
entire lives unaware of the conflicts and prejudices between races, the
practices employed to oppress a people seem unrealistically sinister, as if
they're from some dark, dystopian novel. If this had been about US physicians
coercing African American women into undergoing sterilization, I would've just
shrugged it off as yet another act of racism, the sort to which I've grown
accustomed to seeing everyday. The same beast is rearing its head in this
case, yet only when it happens elsewhere does it look utterly foreign to
me--"that would never happen in _my_ country!"

It's rare that I actually get an opportunity to observe racism from this
perspective. Over the course of a lifetime, I've learned who hates whom and
how they go about expressing that hatred on a regular basis. But I was
entirely unaware of the conflict between these two peoples, despite living
quite close to the Canadian border. It's a reminder that the racism I witness
on a daily basis shouldn't be a part of my life, and it is utterly ridiculous
to attempt to excuse it on the basis of ignorance. I'm the ignorant one here:
I wasn't aware of this issue. The people involved in these acts of racism
aren't ignorant; they're consciously choosing to engage in malicious acts
against an arbitrarily defined portion of their own society. And their crimes
should be treated as exactly that: pure, unprovoked malice.

------
porphyrogene
Whenever a topic like this comes up I find it meaningful to mention the number
of people who lived in North America in the year 1500. The population is
thought to have been roughly one hundred million. Now the indigenous peoples
are nonexistent in most places. Our government policies should cherish these
populations.

~~~
acali
Just FYI, this figure that gets used comes from the high end of a range that
is estimated from 20 million to 100 million for a population of North America
around 1500. The estimate for Europe is around 50 million to 60 million.
[https://www.quora.com/Is-the-claim-
that-100-000-000-native-A...](https://www.quora.com/Is-the-claim-
that-100-000-000-native-Americans-were-killed-by-non-native-settlers-anywhere-
close-to-being-true)

~~~
crooked-v
Entire major temple complexes overrun by South American jungle have only been
found because of modern deep scanning radar, so I feel it's pretty likely that
the number is on the higher end compared to estimates from even 20 years ago.

------
Artistry121
Who supported this practice and why? Can anyone provide context?

~~~
ncr100
No context, but prejudice against indigenous people is not novel.

USA:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterilization_of_Native_Americ...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterilization_of_Native_American_women)

> restricted to only four of the many IHS facilities nationwide and examined
> only the years 1973 to 1976. The GAO study showed that 3,406 involuntary
> sterilizations were performed in these four IHS hospitals during this three-
> year period.

~~~
staplers
Native Americans are 7x more likely to be fatally killed by police as well.

Source: [https://priceonomics.com/the-places-with-the-most-and-
least-...](https://priceonomics.com/the-places-with-the-most-and-least-
police/)

~~~
sideshowb
"now I will kill you until you die from it!"

Seriously though this is hideous.

------
dajohnson89
This is horrific and I hope the international spotlight is put on Canada for
this, from Trudeau all the way down. Indigenous rights are routinely trampled
upon all over the world, and the developed nations have an obligation to set
an example.

------
JBReefer
Canada is so weird to me - you have Trudeau, who is fairly left wing, you have
the controversial C-16/speech stuff (I don't know enough to comment here, but
progressives seem to like it), and then you have the Tar Sands, which are so
environmentally horrible it's remarkable. You have Trudeau pushing for NAFTA
to have language protecting native peoples - which is very progressive - and
then you have fucking forced sterilization? It's mind boggling.

It wouldn't be so weird to me if they didn't act holier-than-thou about the
US, but at least Americans readily admit we're weird and fucked up.

~~~
hnal943
Progressives have loved eugenics for at least 100 years.

------
pervycreeper
The key "says lawyer" portion of the headline is missing in the title.

------
acali
This might be putting the cart before the horse but is it easier to implement
these kinds of policies when they are mandated by a central authority? I'm
thinking about nationalized healthcare here. This is the type of banal evil
that the free market can stand against. The moment the word gets out about the
practice that isn't forcing sterilization, I'd imagine they'd go there if the
option was available.

------
maerF0x0
Just to highlight the details of this situation, I wonder if other groups
received the same treatment or not?

The practice is, either way, heinous. It would clarify some details to know if
this was racially motivated against indigenous, all minorities, or just common
(mal)practice against all mothers?

------
nemacol
>As a senator calls for a nationwide review of the forced sterilization of
Indigenous women

A review?! WHAT. I hope I am missing something here. But what-the-actual-fuck
is this nonsense?

There is nothing to review. Don't do that. Stop it. Just... Stop.

~~~
neonate
The word "review" is a bit misleading here. She's calling for an
investigation.

