Eugenics Movement In Canada

The history of birth control in Canada has encountered significant obstacles. For those willingly seeking it, contraception often required strenuous effort, leaving many unsuccessful. Whether it be government laws or societal views, birth control, particularly through sterilization, was no easy task. However, several individuals found loopholes in the eugenics program, thus granting them access to birth control through sterilization. Unfortunately, those who did not pursue sterilization may have found themselves sterilized anyways, in what was called the eugenics movement. Essentially, the central idea focused on population control through sterilization of those whom were considered “undesirable”. Specific ethnicities and groups were pursued …show more content…
Firstly, the main purpose of eugenics in Canada relied on the need for population control through the often mandatory sterilization of individuals deemed mentally deficient. However, this allowed women to receive legal sterilization under the requirements of eugenics by claiming that having more children would impair their health. This action brought on responses from critics who believed that childbearing women of good health should never be sterilized. However, sterilization was generally the best option because although other methods of birth control were “widely employed, these methods were not effective, reliable, or safe”, thus making sterilization an alternative route. From all this, voluntary sterilization increased among couples allowing for easier, safer, and legal procedures to be …show more content…
Specifically, young women who sought out birth control, usually through sterilization, found themselves unsuccessful as the government and society made such desires difficult. Fortunately, laws and attitudes changed, allowing for easier attainment of birth control. However, one may argue that although obtaining birth control was frustrating, the situations of those affected by involuntary sterilization was much worse. The eugenics movement often stole basic rights of certain individuals in an attempt to clean society. Several groups were targeted, all of which were declared mentally deficient. Tragically, for an extended amount of time, the government and society had supported such atrocities. There were various reasons, differences in support, and levels of access regarding contraception in Canada, making it an incredibly important event in