By Jay Soule | CHIPPEWAR
Limited Edition 13x19 Print
Signed & Numbered
First Edition 1-50
GENERATIONS SEVERED
Doctors have forced sterilization surgery on Indigenous women for decades. The exact number is unknown, but horrific and completely unacceptable at well over 1200.
In 2017, a group of Indigenous women sued the Saskatchewan Government, stating that they were either coerced or gave no consent to their sterilization surgeries; there is no guarantee that this practice has been discontinued.
In most cases, and under duress, Indigenous women would agree to these inhumane practices in order to see their newborn babies. The operations often took place immediately after they gave birth, many times without their consent or even knowledge. The number of women affected is likely well beyond those recorded in the court cases. There have been similar incidents where Indigenous girls, as young as ten, were forcibly inserted with intrauterine devices (IUDs), without informed parental consent. These surgeries and procedures resulted in the severing of family trees and the disruption of generations of Indigenous families. This loss not only impacts the dignity and the respect for Indigenous women now, but for generations into the future.
The United Nations defines this as GENOCIDE.