Leilani Muir versus the Philosopher King: Eugenics on trial in Alberta |
| |
Authors: | Douglas Wahlsten |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2E9 |
| |
Abstract: | The Province of Alberta in Canada was the only jurisdiction in the British Empire where a eugenic sterilization law was passed
(in 1928) and vigorously implemented. The pace of sterilization orders accelerated during the Nazi era and remained high after
World War II, terminating only in 1972 when the Sexual Sterilization Act was repealed. The Alberta Eugenics Board operated
away from public and legislative scrutiny, and many things done in the name of eugenics were clearly illegal. Eugenics was
put on trial in Alberta in 1995 and a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench ruled in 1996 that the government had wrongly sterilized
Leilani Muir. After hearing evidence about the history of the eugenics movement, the origins of Alberta's Sexual Sterilization
Act, the operation of the Eugenics Board, and details of Muir's life, Madam Justice Joanne B. Veit found that ‘the damage
inflicted by the operation was catastrophic’, the ‘wrongful stigmatization of Ms. Muir as a moron ⋯ has humiliated Ms. Muir
every day of her life’, and ‘the circumstances of Ms. Muir's sterilization were so high-handed and so contemptuous of the
statutory authority to effect sterilization, and were undertaken in an atmosphere that so little respected Ms. Muir's human
dignity that the community's, and the court's, sense of decency is offended’. Veit awarded Muir damages of $740,780 CAD and
legal costs of $230,000 CAD. The order for Muir's sterilization was signed by John M. MacEachran, founder of the Department
of Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Alberta and chairman of the Eugenics Board from 1929 to 1965. An exponent
of Platonic idealism, MacEachran believed sterilization of children with a low IQ test score was a means of ‘raising and safeguarding
the purity of the race’. However, the Alberta Sterilization Act was passed and implemented with cavalier disregard for the
principles of genetics as well as the rights of children.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
| |
Keywords: | civil rights fascism intelligence racialpurity sexual sterilization |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|