LFMO raises the human rights issue of forced and coerced sterilization of Métis women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Métis at national and international fora.
In 2019, to raise awareness of the ongoing healthcare violations of Métis women’s reproductive rights, LFMO issued a policy statement on the issue of forced and coerced sterilization of Métis women. In 2021, LFMO provided a submission on the issue to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Today, LFMO remains actively engaged in supporting continues to support community awareness initiatives to equip young Métis women with information on what constitutes forced and coerced sterilization, and what their reproductive rights are upon entering a hospital or healthcare setting.
While there is a lack of Métis-specific, quantitative data on forced or coerced sterilization, there is extensive anecdotal evidence of Métis women being coerced by social workers, doctors and healthcare professionals to have tubal ligations, or being told that they cannot leave the hospital or see their newborn babies if they do not undergo the procedure.1
Going forward, LFMO will continue to confront systemic and systematic biases and discriminatory acts that prevent Métis women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Métis from accessing culturally safe health care, and subject them to coercive and forced attempts to sterilize them without their free, full, and informed consent.
