Human Wreckage from Foreign Lands - A Study of Ethnic Victims of the Alberta Sterilization Act

Authors

  • Ellen Keith

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/cons10496

Abstract

On March 21st, 1928, the Alberta government passed the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act. Between 1928 and 1972, the Alberta Eugenics Board used the Act to sterilize an estimated 2,822 ‘mentally-defective’ Albertans. This paper examines the role that ethnicity played in the sterilization process, arguing that nativist attitudes influenced both the Canadian eugenics movement and the development of the Act.

Author Biography

Ellen Keith

Ellen Keith is a fourth-year history student with a minor in creative writing.  She loves traveling and learning languages.  After graduating this April, she hopes to travel for a few months, and will likely later pursue a graduate degree in either holocaust studies or creative writing.

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Published

2011-06-07

How to Cite

Keith, E. (2011). Human Wreckage from Foreign Lands - A Study of Ethnic Victims of the Alberta Sterilization Act. Constellations, 2(2), 81–89. https://doi.org/10.29173/cons10496

Issue

Section

Grappling with Racism in History