I want to just put this into some context as I understand it.
In 2015, women in Saskatchewan reported suffering unwanted tubal ligations and told stories of being pressured by health professionals and social workers to undergo the procedure. Often, as they were in delivery, sometimes on the table as epidurals were being administered, literally under anaesthetic, the topic of whether or not tubal ligation would be appropriate came up with pressure from the physicians to undergo it then, and to have an answer then.
In 2017, an external review by the Saskatoon regional health authority highlighted the exposure of indigenous women being coerced into tubal ligations. I believe that has now been acknowledged by the Saskatoon health authority. This has happened, so we're not talking about any doubt. There is no question that coerced or forced sterilization has occurred.
In 2017, a class action representing, at that time, some 60 indigenous women was filed against the Province of Saskatchewan, regional health authorities, individual physicians, and the federal government regarding forced sterilization. We also know that as Canada is a state signatory to the UN Convention against Torture, our record on preventing and addressing torture and other forms of ill treatment was reviewed by the UN Committee Against Torture. The most recent review took place in November in Geneva. In its final report, the committee officially recognized that the extensive forced or coerced sterilization of indigenous women in Canada is a form of torture. They also provided Canada with a number of recommendations, and in a rare occurrence, requested that Canada provide information on the implementation of the recommendations within one year, as opposed to the typical five or six years.
Within that context, I have some questions.
First, has the federal government, to your knowledge, instructed any federal prosecutors in Canada to investigate whether criminal charges ought to be pursued? Does anyone have any information on that?