A new body of research is forcing a reckoning with how Canada's health-care system has treated Indigenous women, with findings that document obstetric and gynecological violence in Quebec spanning from 1956 to 2023.
The data, gathered from testimony by Indigenous women who experienced violations of their bodily autonomy within Quebec's health sector, paints a deeply troubling picture of a pattern that researchers say is both historic and ongoing.
What the Data Shows
Researchers involved in the study collected firsthand accounts covering nearly seven decades of incidents. The testimony reveals a range of violations — from lack of informed consent during medical procedures to coercive practices during labour and delivery — carried out against Indigenous women by health-care providers.
The research adds a critical layer of evidence to a conversation that has been building in Canada for years, particularly since the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls highlighted systemic failures across institutions — including health care — that continue to endanger Indigenous lives.
A Decades-Long Pattern
What makes the findings especially striking is the timeline. The earliest documented incidents date back to the mid-20th century, but the data continues through 2023, indicating these are not merely historical wrongs that have since been corrected.
Experts in Indigenous health have long argued that racism embedded within medical institutions — sometimes described as anti-Indigenous racism — shapes how care is delivered, or withheld, from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit patients. This new data gives concrete form to what many Indigenous women and advocates have been saying for generations.
Calls for Accountability
The release of this data comes amid broader calls across Canada for health-care systems to adopt culturally safe practices and enforce accountability when Indigenous patients are harmed. Several provinces have already launched independent reviews of Indigenous patient experiences following high-profile cases of negligence and discrimination.
Advocacy groups are calling on Quebec's provincial government and federal health authorities to treat this data not as an academic finding but as a mandate for immediate policy action — including mandatory anti-racism training for health workers, independent oversight bodies with Indigenous representation, and improved access to Indigenous-led midwifery and birthing services.
National Implications
While the research focuses on Quebec, the issues it surfaces are national in scope. Indigenous communities across Canada — including those in the Ottawa region and northern Ontario — have raised similar concerns about how Indigenous women are treated when they seek obstetric and reproductive care.
For many, the road to reform begins with listening to the women who have survived these experiences and ensuring their testimony shapes the policies, training standards, and oversight mechanisms that govern health care going forward.
The researchers behind the study are expected to present their full findings to health authorities and community partners in the coming weeks.
Source: CBC News. Original reporting by CBC Montreal.
