Alberta Eugenics Board

In 1928, the Alberta government (Alberta, Canada) passed eugenics legislation that enabled the involuntary sterilization of individuals classified as mentally deficient (now known as persons with a developmental disability or mental disorder). To implement the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta, a four-member Alberta Eugenics Board was created to recommend individuals for sterilization. In 1972, the Act was repealed and the Board dismantled. During its 43 years in operation, the Board approved nearly 5,000 cases and 2,832 sterilizations were performed. The actions of the Board came under public scrutiny in 1995 with Leilani Muir's successful lawsuit against the Alberta government for wrongful sterilization.

Although Mendelian inheritance principles were well understood by geneticists in 1928, advocates of the eugenics movement held onto the unfounded premise that “like begets like”. They believed that social degenerates would procreate and pass on their "undesirable" traits to their offspring. Although it was known at the time, for recessive disorders, like does not always beget like, and with dominant disorders, there is only a 50% risk of transmission to the child. The progeny of parents with mental deficiencies are not always born with an inherited disorder. Mental disorder phenotypes are influenced by environmental interactions, such as German measles, and are often independent of an individual’s genome.

The province of Alberta was the first part of the British Empire to adopt a sterilization law, and was the only Canadian province that vigorously implemented it. The western provinces, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, were close to the United States and highly influenced by American trends. During early debates regarding the sexual sterilization bill in Alberta, there were many references made to U.S. legislation. As Canada was rapidly being populated by immigrants, the eugenics movement was emerging and gaining the support of influential sponsors, such as J.S. Woodsworth, Emily Murphy, Helen MacMurchy, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung, and Robert Charles Wallace. In Alberta, eugenics supporters had seemingly positive intentions with the goal of bettering the gene pool and society at large.

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