By Alessia Passafiume Parliament must pass legislation to criminalize non-consensual sterilization, survivors said Tuesday in a press conference on Parliament Hill. Bill S-228 passed the Senate last fall, and is scheduled to have its first real debate in the House of Commons on Thursday. The bill would amend the Criminal Code to make sterilizing a person without obtaining informed consent an act of aggravated assault. The Survivors Circle for Reproductive Justice said it’s estimated between 12,000 and 15,000 individuals have been sterilized in the country without proper consent, including cases as recently as last year. The procedure disproportionately harms Indigenous women but has also affected people with disabilities, racialized women and members of the LGBTQ community. Heather Bear said stories like hers aren’t acceptable. “It’s been hard and gruelling to…
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