Facing Eugenics is a social history of sexual sterilization operations in twentieth-century Canada. Looking at real-life experiences of men and women who, either coercively or voluntarily, participated in the largest legal eugenics program in Canada, it considers the impact of successive legal policies and medical practices on shaping our understanding of contemporary reproductive rights. The book also provides deep insights into the broader implications of medical experimentation, institutionalization, and health care in North America.

Erika Dyck uses a range of historical evidence, including medical files, court testimony, and personal records to place mental health and intelligence at the centre of discussions regarding reproductive fitness. Examining acts of resistance alongside heavy-handed decisions to sterilize people considered “unfit,” Facing Eugenics illuminates how reproductive rights fit into a broader discussion of what constitutes civil liberties, modern feminism, and contemporary psychiatric survivor and disability activism.

Erika Dyck is a historian of health, medicine, and Canadian society at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research has concentrated on the history of mental health, institutionalization, and experimentation.
 

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• Short-listed, John A. Macdonald Prize awarded by Canadian Historical Association
• Short-listed, Canada Prize in the Social Sciences awarded by Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

‘Dyck situates the fascinating and important story of eugenics and sterilization in Alberta on the historiographical map with exceptional intelligence and compassion.’

Bulletin of the History of Medicine vol89:03:2015

‘I would suggest that this complicated history, one that is both sweepingly macro and intimately micro, is not only worth reading but also our responsibility to remember.’

Canadian Journal of Disability Studies vol 3:03:2014

‘This is a terrific book which deserves a wide audience well beyond Canada.’

Histoire sociale / Social History, vol 47:95:2014

‘Facing Eugenics is a wonderful book. Written in clear and accessible prose, it provides a sophisticated and nuanced account of history of eugenics and reproductive rights in Canada. It deserves wide readership in the classroom and beyond.’

Canadian Historical Review vol 96:01:2015