Eugenics is the science of improving the population by controlled breeding for desirable inherited characteristics. The horrible effects of Canada's eugenics movement, which spanned from 1885 to 1945, still resound through Canadian courts to this day. The eugenics movement spawned the horrific practices of government-enforced, involuntary sterilization programs such as the Sexual Sterilization Act passed in Alberta. Alberta was one of two provinces (B.C. 1933), to pass such legislation.

The Sexual Sterilization Act, which was introduced in 1928 in Alberta, was based on the principals of eugenics, meaning "good birth". In the 1920's, it was believed that if only those people with desirable genes bore children, the human race as a whole would improve. The Alberta government and pressure groups including the United Farm Women of Alberta sought to limit the reproduction of many kinds of people, including visible minorities and the "feeble-minded". They associated much of the rise of crime, poverty, alcoholism and other vices to these people.

Regardless of the reasons in support of sterilization at the time, restricting an individual's ability to repro

The government, fearful of repeating the Eugenics movement of the 1920s has outlawed non-therapeutic sterilization of in-capable adults not only to protect society's vulnerable members, but also to protect itself from litigations. This no-exceptions stance is aimed to protect society as a whole, but perhaps fails to accommodate the unique circumstances of individual families.

Strangely, Crockett and the doctors gave two totally different reasons why the two parties agreed on castration. The doctors say they decided on this procedure because Crockett's son complained of pain in his testicles. Crockett says the procedure was to address concerns about her son's aggressiveness and violent outbursts. This procedure decreased Crockett's son's sex drive significantly, but Crockett says she had been assured that her son would still be able to become sexually aroused and have sexual relations with a consenting partner.

The horrible acts committed during the eugenics movement still loom heavily, with victims such as Leilani Muir demanding restitution for being sterilized without her consent. In 1955, Ms. Muir at the age of ten, she entered the Michener Centre in Red Deer, Alberta's Provincial Training School for Mental Defectives. A year later, the Alberta's Eugenics Board gave her an IQ test and a short interview. She was declared a "moron" and approved for sterilization. In 1959, Leilani was told that her appendix would have to be removed. While surgeons performed this operation, they also cut her fallopian tubes.

accommodate individual situations. In July 1997, Sandra Crockett provided consent for

Medical conditions under which sterilization can be performed include "mental and physical health," however; the court ruled that sterilization is disallowed for the sake of social benefits (i.e. Being allowed to spend time alone with members of the opposite sex without fear of pregnancy).

Sandra Crockett still awaits her hearing. If found guilty, she could face a fine, the amount will be determined in court. Crockett stands firmly by her decision on his sterilization, saying it was important to the freedom Adam enjoys today.

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