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- Native Women’s Association Of Canada Combats Forced Sterilization With Knowing Your Rights Toolkit For Indigenous Women
Policy Sectors
October 28, 2020
OTTAWA — In recent years, over 100 First Nations, Inuit and Métis women across Canada have come forward to say they were forced or coerced to undergo a sterilization procedure. The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has developed the Knowing Your Rights educational toolkit to help protect Indigenous women and gender-diverse people and combat systemic racism in the healthcare system.
“Those who have come forward are the tip of the iceberg. Our consultations with Indigenous women suggest there may be hundreds more whose basic human rights were violated and they didn’t even realize it, because they were never properly informed of their rights. We’re going to change that,” says Lynne Groulx, NWAC CEO.
Forced or coerced sterilization is a violation of human rights, medical ethics, and reproductive rights, and it is considered by the United Nations to be a form of torture.
In early 2020, NWAC engaged Indigenous women in Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia in consultations around health care. Those sessions uncovered a major gap in sexual health education; in women’s understanding of their options when it comes to sexual and reproductive health; and in their awareness and understanding of their rights when in the healthcare system. To address this, NWAC developed the Knowing Your Rights toolkit, containing informational materials including brochures and posters that provide invaluable guidance on subjects such as: informed consent, birth control options, patient rights and responsibilities, and how to take action when rights are violated.
The Knowing Your Rights toolkit can be downloaded from the NWAC web site—www.nwac.ca—and will be distributed through our provincial and territorial member organizations. NWAC encourages all organizations, hospitals and clinics, and individual healthcare professionals who serve Indigenous women to download the toolkit and make them visible and accessible to their clients. NWAC will provide hard copies to anyone individuals upon request. In addition to the toolkit, NWAC will also be running virtual “Know Your Rights Expressive Arts Workshops” between December and March.
“Educating women about their rights is important, but only the first step,” adds Groulx. “A hundred known cases of forced sterilization, on top of tragic stories like that of Joyce Echaquan, demonstrate that sweeping changes are needed to end systemic racism in Canadian healthcare.”
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For information, or to arrange an interview, contact:
Annette Goerner
annette@sparkadvocacy.ca
+1 (613) 818-6941
Pour obtenir plus d’information ou prendre des dispositions pour une interview, contacter:
Annette Goerner
annette@sparkadvocacy.ca
+1 (613) 818-6941
About The Native Women’s Association of Canada
The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is a National Indigenous Organization representing the political voice of Indigenous women, girls, transgender, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people in Canada, inclusive of First Nations on and off reserve, status and non-status, disenfranchised, Métis and Inuit. An aggregate of Indigenous women’s organizations from across the country, NWAC was founded on the collective goal to enhance, promote and foster the social, economic, cultural and political well-being of Indigenous women within their respective communities and Canada societies.
À propos de l'Association des femmes autochtones du Canada
L'Association des femmes autochtones du Canada (AFAC) est une organisation autochtone nationale qui représente la voix politique des femmes, des filles, des transgenres, des bispirituels et des personnes de sexe différent au Canada, y compris les membres des Premières nations vivant dans les réserves et hors réserve, les Indiens inscrits et non inscrits, les personnes privées de leurs droits, les Métis et les Inuits. Regroupant des organisations de femmes autochtones de tout le pays, l'AFAC a été fondée dans le but collectif d'améliorer, de promouvoir et de favoriser le bien-être social, économique, culturel et politique des femmes autochtones au sein de leurs communautés respectives et des sociétés canadiennes.
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