Artifact#7: Sterilization Settlement Reached

Brian Gavriloff, “Sterilization Suit Settled,” Edmonton Journal, November 3, 1999, https://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/hnpedmontonjournal/newspapers/november-3-1999-page-1-72/docview/2402324754/sem-2?accountid=14474

Settlement of the Muir lawsuit makes national headlines as Leilani Muir finds success in her fight against the Alberta Government due to unlawful sterilization. From the Edmonton Journal this online archived newspaper article titled $80M and an Apology, written by author Graham Thomsen on November 3, 1999, provides specifics on settlement money as well as an issued apology from the Alberta Government and the Eugenics board while also allowing perspective of other survivors of eugenics to be heard. Readers can determine through this article how the Muir case affected individuals within Alberta and how it took till the 1990s to settle a complex case while providing hope of justice and change to other survivors.  

Leilani describes the feeling of overjoyment along with a mixture of emotions in chapter 15 of her memoir titled, A Whisper Past: Childless after Eugenic Sterilization in Alberta, in which she discusses her emotions from finding out about her sterilization to the success of her lawsuit against the Alberta Government while also discussing the aftermath and influence this case had on Eugenics and Sterilization Act’s globally. Finally, Muirs next steps included voicing her story nationally while allowing a movement that sparked other forced sterilization victims’ voices to be heard.

Muir, Leilani. A Whisper Past: Childless after Eugenic Sterilization in Alberta: A Memoir. 1st ed. Friesen Press, 2014. Ch. 15. https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=JsE9AwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Muir,+L.+(2014).+A+Whisper+Past.+Victoria,+BC+:+FriesenPress,+Inc.&ots=Fs12PzW0sq&sig=aH4IQtaZ3XN5BIM0fDFj2-0-DLs - v=onepage&q&f=false