Sexual Sterilization Act

The Sexual Sterilization Act was a law enacted in 1928 by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. Supported by influential social groups, the Act was aimed to redress social problems by preventing the transmission of personality traits deemed undesirable to offspring and therefore allowed for sterilization of mentally disabled people.

At that time, eugenicists argued that mental illness, mental retardation, epilepsy, alcoholism, pauperism, certain criminal behaviours, and social defects, such as prostitution and sexual perversion, were genetically determined and inherited. Further, it was widely believed that persons with these disorders had a higher reproduction rate than the normal population, leading to a gradual societal decline.

During the time the Sexual Sterilization Act was in effect, 4,800 cases were proposed for sterilization in the Province of Alberta, of which 99% received approval. Examination of sterilization records demonstrates that legislation did not apply equally to all members of society. Specifically, the Act was disproportionately applied to those in socially vulnerable positions, including females, children, unemployed persons, domestic servants, rural citizens, unmarried, institutionalized persons, Roman and Greek Catholics, and persons of Ukrainian, Native, and Métis ethnicity.

Controversial even at the time of its introduction, the Act was repealed in 1972.