Amnesty calls for accountability on coerced sterilization of Indigenous Canadian women

OTTAWA — Amnesty International Canada is calling on the federal government to appoint a special representative to hear from Indigenous women coerced into sterilization procedures — to learn what justice would look like for them.

The human rights organization also plans to raise awareness at this month's United Nations Committee Against Torture about the forcible practice of burning or tying Fallopian tubes in Canada.

Amnesty's gender rights campaigner Jacqueline Hansen says there must be accountability from federal, provincial and medical authorities, adding the practice is deplorable as Canada looks at reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says the sterilization of Indigenous women is a grave human rights violation and he's demanding the federal government immediately end what he calls a dehumanizing and harmful practice in all corners of the country.

Federal Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott has called the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women a very serious violation of human rights.

Sen. Yvonne Boyer is calling on the Senate to examine the scope of the issue nationally, adding she's heard from Indigenous women in different parts of the country who have experienced this trauma in the medical system.

— The Canadian Press