Quebec court authorizes class action over alleged sterilization of Indigenous women

Quebec’s Superior Court has authorized a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Atikamekw women who say they were sterilized against their will.

“It’s a relief that it’s going forward the system justice system is willing to listen,” says Constant Awashish, the Grand Chief of the Atikamekw Nation.

Justice Lukasz Granosik green-lit the lawsuit on behalf of “all women of Atikamekw origin who have undergone surgery that has impaired their fertility without having given their free and informed consent since 1980.”

The lawsuit, dated Aug. 21, demands unspecified damages from two doctors – identified as R.M. and Y.B. – and from the estate of a third, M.T., all three of whom the plaintiffs say violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Quebec’s civil code.

“This is not an isolated, incident. This has been going on for years across Canada…if this lawsuit is successful, it will change things and we need to change things now,” says Nakuset of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal. She believes this will allow other Indigenous individuals to come forward and seek justice. “The courage of these women to come forward. It’s huge and when you come forward, it will inspire others to do the same,” says Nakuset.

Grand Chief Awashish agrees, ” it’s going to bring other women forward to be more willing to talk about their experience in terms of health care or in terms of those kinds of practices.”

The lead plaintiffs, who are identified by the initials U.T. and M.X., are also putting some of the blame on an unnamed integrated health and social services centre, known in Quebec as a CISSS.

Identified only as CISSS A, the health authority is accused of having allowed, “by its actions or its negligence, that wrongful or criminal acts be perpetrated with complete impunity by doctors.”

The authorization states the two lead plaintiffs gave birth five times in hospital, and that they were allegedly given tubal ligations after their fifth births.

U.T. denies having consented to the surgery, or even having been informed of it, while M.X. denies having consented in a “free and informed” manner, alleging undue pressure from the doctor.

The plaintiffs are claiming unspecified damages for women who allegedly underwent the procedures, as well as their partners, children and grandchildren, and heirs.

“It’s important that we talk about it. If we want the truth, if we want to know exactly what’s been happening and what’s still what is still happening today,” says Awashish.

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Judge Granosik wrote that the alleged actions of the doctors, if proven, “constitute a serious attack on fundamental rights and freedoms.”

“It is quite possible to argue that sterilizing a woman without her free and informed consent constitutes both a civil fault, an ethical fault, a criminal act and a violation of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.”

A report released late last year by the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission found there have been at least 22 cases of forced sterilization of First Nations and Inuit women in Quebec since 1980. The researchers at Universite du Quebec en Abitibi-Temiscamingue reported that several of the 35 study participants did not realize they had been sterilized until years after, when they sought treatment for fertility issues.

“It is really an example of systemic racism within the institutions, being the hospitals,” says Nakuset who believes the lawsuit will set a precedent for both victims and medical institutions.

“It’s the same thing when the inquest happened to Joyce Echaquan’s death, it made people think, ‘Oh, maybe I shouldn’t insult an indigenous woman. Maybe I should do better, maybe I should treat them with respect.’ Unless we fight, it’s as if the status quo was fine.”

Others who had signed a form consenting to the procedures said the information they received from medical staff had not been clear about the procedures’ impact on their future ability to have children, the authors reported.

The allegations included in the class action have not been proven in court.