OTTAWA — The House of Commons on Monday passed a long-awaited law criminalizing forced or coerced sterilization, evoking an emotional moment for survivors gathered in Ottawa.

The law says sterilization without legal consent constitutes aggravated assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Survivors and advocates who have been pushing for a change to the Criminal Code since 2015 held one another in the House of Commons, and shed a mixture of tears of joy and sadness, said Nicole Rabbit, a survivor and board member of Survivors Circle for Reproductive Justice.

“It was like they heard us. They listened,” Rabbit said.

The Survivors Circle estimates as many as 15,000 Indigenous people have been sterilized without their consent since the 1890s, some as recently as last year.

Rabbit said three generations of her family have been sterilized. She was 28 years old when it happened to her.

Claudette Dumont-Smith, co-chair of the Survivors Circle, said the passing of the bill is a victory for the women who have been sterilized, and the ones who will not be in future.

“It’s unfortunate that you have to go to this extent to stop the racism and the abuse, and violation of our women, but that’s how far we have to go,” Dumont-Smith said.

Some physician groups, including the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, warned earlier this spring that the bill could cause doctors to worry about how they treat patients in an emergency.

Dumont-Smith said life-saving measures are not considered a form of assault and will not be penalized.

The bill was put forward in the Senate last year by Sen. Yvonne Boyer and now awaits royal assent.

— Written by Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa and Hannah Alberga in Toronto.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2026.