Eugenics and the Firewall

Why Our Eugenics Past Matters to 21st Century Canadians

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Buy southern Albertan books for Christmas

Buy southern Albertan books for Christmas
Posted by Jane Harris Zsovan (Jane Harris) at 1:18 PM No comments:
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Author Website & Pages

  • Jane Harris, author website
  • Jane Harris (Harris-Zsovan) Author Facebook Page
  • Author Contact Page
  • J.Gordon Shillingford Publishing
Follow @canadawrite

Professional Memberships

  • The Writers` Union of Canada
  • Writers` Guild of Alberta

Purchase Eugenics and the Firewall

Purchase Eugenics and the Firewall
J.Gordon Shillingford Publishing Store

Twitter

Contacts:

  • Owl's Nest Books
  • Vision of Canada Blog
  • Jane Harris Zsovan, Author, Eugenics & the Firewall:Canada's Nasty Little Secret
  • University of Lethbridge Bookstore
  • McNally Robinson
  • Audrey's Books
  • Booktopia
  • J Gordon Shillingford Publishing
  • University of Toronto Press Distribution
  • University of Toronto Press (online ordering
  • LIterary Press Group of Canada

Sampling of Media Coverage:

"Book Examines Alberta's Dark Eugenics History," Lana Michelin, Red Deer Advocate, 04 January 2010.


"Alberta's Shameful Past Offers Fetid Food for Thought", Ian Stewart, Winnipeg Free Press, 31 December 2010.

"A not so proud history. Author examines Alberta's Sexual Sterilization Act." Paula Hinman, Prairie Books Now. Fall/Winter 2010.

Lethbridge Herald, Saturday 20 November 2010 "Lethbridge Author discusses Alberta's eugenics past in book, Written by Sherri Gallant.

LA Beat Arts Mag (upcoming)

Arts Bridge (Spring 2010)

VUE (upcoming)















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About Me

My photo
Jane Harris Zsovan (Jane Harris)
is an author in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Her 2nd book, Eugenics & the Firewall: Canada's Nasty Little Secret (Pub:J.Gordon Shillingford Pub. Dist: University of Toronto Press)launched 17 Nov. 2010 in Lethbridge. Jane is fascinated by Canada's place in the world. That led her freelance journalism; digging into issues that make Canada unique. It also inspired Stars Appearing: The Galts' Vision of Canada, which uncovers Alberta's unique links to Confederation and Canada's role in reforming the world's most powerful empire into the Commonwealth. Eugenics & and the Firewall: Canada's Nasty Little Secret digs into political culture in her home province through its darkest chapter: sterilization of 1000s of Albertans between 1928-1972. Jane's life gave her a glimpse of issues faced by Canadians: poverty,social justice, access to health care, and rights of the underclass. Once, she faced homelessness. She found few social supports available to her. She learned her situation is common in oil rich Alberta. She credits determination & the Grace of God, for rebuilding her life & career.
View my complete profile

Followers

It's a dirty little secret the heirs to Alberta's populist legacy don't want Canadians to talk about.

In 1928, the non-partisan United Farmers of Alberta passed the first Sexual Sterilization Act. The UFA's successor, the Social Credit Party, led by a radio-evangelist William Aberhart, and later by his protege, Ernest Manning, removed the need to obtain consent to sterilize 'mental defectives' and Huntington's Chorea patients with dementia.

Between 1928 and 1972, nearly three thousand citizens were sterilized, lied to, experimented on, and subjected to daily abusse of the at the hands of provincial staff in Alberta. Most Albertans have forgotten the victims whose names made headlines in the 1990s, and politicians and pundits have shown little empathy for the victims.

The Eugenics board horror story has been largelyburied in Canada's mainstream national media. Conservative bloggers and columnists in Canada continue to blame the Liberals and CCF for Canada's barbaric Eugenics Program. The tar sands, oil royalties, health care budgets, environmental policies, and making sure the province's interests remain high on the federal agenda top provincial headlines.

But the questions must be answered: How did a province that claims "strong and free" as its motto deny basic freedoms to so many of its own citizens? Why does the extent of Alberta's eugenics past and its link to the UFA/Social Credit legacy remain the unacknowledged moral blindspots in Canadian politics?

It's time to set the record straight.



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