Thesis ID: CBB869631709

The Public Good: Eugenics and Law in Ontario, 1910 to 1938 (2018)

unapi

In the early twentieth century, interest in eugenics swept the world. Seen as a scientific solution to social ills of the day like prostitution, venereal disease and the supposed rise in “feeble-mindedness,” its principles were based on the notion that humanity could be improved through selective breeding, as was already being done with plants and animals. Many jurisdictions, including thirty American states as well as Alberta and British Columbia in Canada, implemented legislation which required certain “unfit” individuals to undergo reproductive sterilization. Others passed legislation requiring pre-marital certificates of medical “fitness.” Surprisingly, Ontario never followed suit. This has led to the assumption that “not too much” of a eugenic nature happened in that province. However, by investigating the relationship between eugenics and law using primary sources relatively unknown to historians of medicine, science and technology, I have found evidence of considerable eugenic activity in Ontario. This dissertation focusses on the period from 1910 to 1938 and three specific legal processes. First, I examine the story of Dr. Forbes Godfrey, MPP, who, between 1910 and 1921, introduced eight private members’ bills in the legislature, four to implement sterilization and four to implement marriage restrictions. All eight failed to pass. Second is the story of three Royal Commissions, established in 1917, 1929, 1938, which all recommended eugenic solutions to the problems they were set up to consider. Once again, none of their proposed eugenic solutions were adopted. Third is the story of industrialist A. R. Kaufman and the Parents’ Information Bureau he incorporated to promote birth control and sterilization. This work led to a 1936 criminal prosecution now known as the Eastview Trial in which the judge determined, partly because of an argument based explicitly on eugenic principles, that distributing birth control information and devices served the “public good.”

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Authors & Contributors
Adams, Tracey L.
McIsaac, Jacqueline
Drake, Simone
Lucas, Jack
Hildebrandt, Sabine
Koester, Carolyn Elizabeth
Concepts
Birth control; contraception; sterilization
Eugenics
Involuntary sterilization
Medicine and politics
Mental disorders and diseases
Medicine
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
20th century
18th century
Places
Canada
Ontario (Canada)
United States
Nova Scotia
Québec (Canada)
South Africa
Institutions
Toronto Hospital for the Insane
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