I was a little hesitant signing up for a 400-level human sexuality class. A friend jokingly asked me if the Kama Sutra would be our textbook, and the only answer I had was, “I hope not.”

I was surprised by the variety of issues the class tackles. When it came time for class presentations, I chose to present on sexuality and the mentally challenged. I turned my focus to the past and looked at Canada’s hidden history of eugenics. Eugenics involves the compulsory sterilization of individuals by government policy.

There was a dark period in Canada’s history and welfare policies. The Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta was passed in 1928 and similar acts continued in parts of Canada until 1972. The government forced people to undergo surgeries and hormone and chemical treatments to prevent them from procreating.
The model for eugenics in Canada was similar to Nazi policy regarding the mentally disabled. The logic that Canada used to justify its policies was borrowed from Nazi thought. The government sterilized those it deemed “unfit” to parent, but more subtly, unfit to reproduce.

Canada was unique because it was selective in choosing candidates for sterilization. Although eugenics has traditionally been thought of as only targeting the mentally disabled, there were an alarming amount of treatments and operations done on aboriginal women.

IQ tests employed to determine an individual’s suitability to parent included questions that were subjectively based on culture. For example, a question could ask someone what he or she would pack for a picnic lunch. The tests were not only intellectually prejudicial, but also racist.

Robbing somebody of their reproductive capabilities based on how they score on an IQ test is dangerous because it suggests that the right to be human is based on human measurements and standards. Valuing people as human beings should never be dependent on performance, measured by IQ tests or otherwise.
The study of eugenics and its history in Canada is complex and frustrating. The discussions that took place in my human sexuality class had incredible depth and revealed more than I expected. Just for the record, we didn’t discuss the Kama Sutra once.