Tubal ligations of Indigenous women in Saskatoon ‘troubling’: Bennett
OTTAWA — Reports that women in and around Saskatoon were being coerced into tubal ligation procedures are evidence of racism in a health-care system that remains biased against Aboriginal women, Canada’s Indigenous affairs minister says.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Carolyn Bennett called last week’s report “completely troubling” and a sign that some doctors are still willing to project onto certain patients what they consider an “optimal family size.”
“It is a very paternalistic approach,” Bennett said. “I think that we yet again are confronted with the racism in all of our institutions.”
The report was researched and compiled by Yvonne Boyer, a lawyer and a Canada Research Chair at Manitoba’s Brandon University, and Dr. Judith Bartlett, a physician and researcher.