Timothy Christian writes The Mentally Ill and Human Rights in Alberta: A Study of the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act with the assistance of Burke Barker

1973. Closely following the repeal of the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta, the Alberta Law Foundation and the Alberta Department of Justice funded a study on the mentally ill and human rights within the province of Alberta. The result was Timothy Christian's unpublished report, The Mentally Ill and Human Rights in Alberta: a study of the Alberta sexual sterilization act, which was written with the assistance of Burke Barker (Christian & Barker, 1973). It also served as Christian's thesis (Dyck, 2013). The work remains a well cited source for scholarship into the history of Alberta eugenics practices (Dyck, 2013). It was one of a handful of studies launched after the repeal of the Act, which sought to explore the history of eugenics in Western Canada (Wilson, 2014).

Christian's research demonstrated that Alberta eugenics cases focused on single-parent families, Catholics, immigrants (particularly those of Slavic descent), those dealing with poverty and/or addiction, and people of Aboriginal or Metis backgrounds (Dyck, 2013). Christian also examined the rate of sterilization over time (Dyck, 2013). The study is additionally noted for examining legislative debates surrounding the Sexual Sterilization Act (Dyck, 2013).

-Colette Leung

  • Christian, T., & Barker, B. (1973). The mentally ill and human rights in Alberta: A study of the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act. Edmonton, Canada: University of Alberta. Faculty of Law.

  • Wilson, R. A. (2014). The Role of Oral History in Surviving a Eugenic Past. In S. High (Ed.), Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence (1 - 16), Vancouver: UBC Press.

  • Dyck, E. (2013). Facing Eugenics: Reproduction, Sterilization, and the Politics of Choice. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Timothy Christian writes The Mentally Ill and Human Rights in Alberta: A Study of the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act with the assistance of Burke Barker

1973. Closely following the repeal of the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta, the Alberta Law Foundation and the Alberta Department of Justice funded a study on the mentally ill and human rights within the province of Alberta. The result was Timothy Christian's unpublished report, The Mentally Ill and Human Rights in Alberta: a study of the Alberta sexual sterilization act, which was written with the assistance of Burke Barker (Christian & Barker, 1973). It also served as Christian's thesis (Dyck, 2013). The work remains a well cited source for scholarship into the history of Alberta eugenics practices (Dyck, 2013). It was one of a handful of studies launched after the repeal of the Act, which sought to explore the history of eugenics in Western Canada (Wilson, 2014).

Christian's research demonstrated that Alberta eugenics cases focused on single-parent families, Catholics, immigrants (particularly those of Slavic descent), those dealing with poverty and/or addiction, and people of Aboriginal or Metis backgrounds (Dyck, 2013). Christian also examined the rate of sterilization over time (Dyck, 2013). The study is additionally noted for examining legislative debates surrounding the Sexual Sterilization Act (Dyck, 2013).

-Colette Leung

  • Christian, T., & Barker, B. (1973). The mentally ill and human rights in Alberta: A study of the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act. Edmonton, Canada: University of Alberta. Faculty of Law.

  • Wilson, R. A. (2014). The Role of Oral History in Surviving a Eugenic Past. In S. High (Ed.), Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence (1 - 16), Vancouver: UBC Press.

  • Dyck, E. (2013). Facing Eugenics: Reproduction, Sterilization, and the Politics of Choice. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.