Funding outcome

Coerced contraception means making women take birth control or get an operation that would stop them from having children. In Canada, as in other countries, Indigenous women have been more likely to be forced into long-term or permanent birth control-and sometimes they are not even told it has happened. In the past few years, we have heard about coerced contraception of Indigenous women in Saskatchewan, but we know little about women's recent experiences in Alberta. Working with Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers, and community members, we will listen to and learn from Alberta Indigenous women's stories about coerced contraception. We want to know how their lives have been affected; to learn how, or if, it has changed their health and use of health care, and their relationship with their families and communities; how and where they find their strength; and what recommendations they have for doctors, nurses, government, and researchers to help them and other Indigenous women in the future. These lessons will be shared with healthcare and government officials and communities, in ways decided by the women and Indigenous partners, through papers, talks, sharing circles, and social media. It will help us create a larger study with Indigenous, migrant, and rural poor women and coerced contraception in Canada, Indonesia, and Peru.