Surviving Eugenics

Jordan Miller was born in Edmonton Alberta and began working with video in 2003.  Jordan worked closely with several local businesses and advocacy groups in Edmonton, working on a variety of films including "How to Talk" and "A Proud Moment in Time", produced by the Self Advocacy Federation, as well as working on soundscapes and editing for local indie films.  Jordan has been involved with the Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada Project for the past 4 years, and hopes to continue examining contemporary social issues through documentary film making. Currently living in Calgary, Alberta, Jordan enjoys camping, mountain biking, and exploring the back-country in his spare time.

Nicola Fairbrother is the director of Neighborhood Bridges, an Edmonton-based human rights organization that is committed to ending the oppression of people with developmental disabilities. Established by Nicola in 2007, Neighborhood Bridges has strived to be an active member of the Westmount, Oliver, and Queen Mary Park neighborhoods by focusing on activism, citizenship and community development.

The importance of taking oral histories and survivor testimonies from oppressed cultures, particularly those who are otherwise without voice, is very important to Nicola. She feels that this is the best way for these stories to be made known as it allows the testifiers the opportunity to own and direct distribution of their message. Nicola also believes that these stories can be used to create opportunities to bridge within and across cultures.

Nicola began her career in 1986 and since has tirelessly devoted her life to her work managing community supports, delivering provincial advocacy services, and organizational consulting. Despite all this, she still somehow finds time to be with her family and countless loved ones. Should there ever be a zombie apocalypse, Nicola Fairbrother would undoubtedly be the one who steps up to lead the resistance and ensure that humanity lives to see another day. Until then, she will continue to follow her dream of a world where everyone is a valued citizen. 

Robert A. Wilson is professor of philosophy in the Department of Politics and Philosophy at La Trobe University in Melbourne. Rob taught at the University of Alberta, Canada from 2000-2017, where he was the founding director of Philosophy for Children Alberta (2008-2015) and of Eugenics Archives (2010-2015). He was born in Broken Hill in New South Wales, grew up there and in Perth in Western Australia, and completed his M.A. and Ph.D. at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Rob's areas of specialization include the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, philosophy of biology, and disability studies. He is the author or editor of seven books, including Boundaries of the Mind (2004) and Genes and the Agents of Life (2005), both published with Cambridge University Press. Rob's most recent book is The Eugenic Mind Project (MIT Press, 2018), and he has recently finished a book on kinship; a more complete view of his work is available at robwilsonphilosophy.com. Surviving Eugenics is his first venture into the world of film-making.

Leilani (O’Malley) Muir was born in Calgary, Alberta, into a poor family. Abused by her mother, Muir was institutionalized at the Provincial Training School (PTS) in Red Deer at the age of 11. After two years of living at the PTS, Muir was given an intelligence quotient (IQ) test, where she scored below 70, and was diagnosed as a "moron". This test score contributed to the decision made by the Eugenics Board after a brief interview with Muir, and she was approved for sterilization, alongside numerous other PTS residents. At the time, she was lied to and told that she was having her appendix out. Subsequent IQ tests administered in her adulthood revealed that Muir actually has a normal IQ.

After leaving the Provincial Training School, Muir worked many positions, including as a babysitter. When she was unable to conceive a child in her first marriage, she found out she had been sterilized, and that the operation could not be reversed. Muir was also unable to adopt because of her time in an institution. In 1995, Muir launched a lawsuit against the Alberta government for wrongful sterilization. The case was very important, as it led to an apology on behalf of the Alberta government, and compensation being paid to hundreds of other wrongfully sterilized persons.

Muir's story was the topic of the documentary by the National Film Board of Canada, The Sterilization of Leilani Muir, and the Edmonton Fringe festival play, The Invisible Child. Muir continues to advocate for the rights of children, and to speak in public forums about her experiences. Her autobiography, A Whisper Past was released in 2014.

Judy Lytton (nee Faulkner) is a eugenics survivor and a current member of the Governing Board for the Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada. Judy was placed in the Provincial Training School (PTS) in 1951 at the age of seven, until she was discharged in 1960.

Judy apprenticed as a Hairdresser from 1959 to 1960 and then went to Hairdressing school for nine months, finishing in 1961 with top marks. Judy met her husband to be, Gary Lytton, in 1979 and they were married in 1982. Judy lived in Ashvilla at the PTS and shared daily tasks such as cleaning the rooms, making beds, dining room clean-up, caring for others, and distributing specialized food to residents. Judy and Leilani meet during their time at Ashvilla and became friends. They drifted apart after they left the PTS but were reunited during Leilani’s court case in 1996.

Judy enjoys traveling and photography. Judy volunteered with the Singing Christmas Tree for 32 years and continues to volunteer with the Festival of Trees for the last 25 years. For 40 years Judy was actively involved with Camp Farthest Out (CFO) founded by Glenn Clark. Currently Judy lives in Edmonton with her husband Gary and is actively involved with her church.

Glenn G. Sinclair was sent to the Provincial Training School of Alberta at the age of 7, having previously lived in an orphanage. He recalls the experience of being taken before the Eugenics Board, and how within 5 minutes his life was changed forever.

Fearing he might never be able to escape the Provincial Training School, Glenn made his escape from his life as a trainee in the middle of the night. This event shaped the future for Glenn, filling him with the desire to control his own destiny and the belief that he could make his way in the world.

Roy Skoreyko and his brother were placed at the Provincial Training School of Alberta when Roy was 10 years old. Roy remembers the fear of living with ‘locked doors’ and the lack of privacy, the good staff and the ‘tough guys’. He was sterilized when he was 16 years old.

As an adult, having left the Provincial Training School, Roy committed himself to the rights of people with intellectual disabilities. He has been an active member of the People First and Community Living movements, speaking with political leaders, community members and provincial employees about the importance of learning lessons from Alberta’s eugenics legislation so that history does not repeat.

Ken Nelson was admitted to the Provincial Training School of Alberta (Michener Centre) at the age of 8 when his placement with an adoptive family fell through. Ken felt the loss of his adoptive family deeply. While at the Provincial Training School Ken was sterilized, like many people, without his consent. Ken remembers clearly both his sterilization and how difficult it was to grow up in an institution.

After leaving the institution, Ken met and married a woman who had a daughter, Crystal. Ken feels great pride around his role as a father, and recognizes that he was very fortunate that he found family and fatherhood in spite of being sterilized under the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta.

P. Jonathan Faulds is an Edmonton based lawyer who has specialized in defending clients whose civil and constitutional have been violated by the province of Alberta either because of their disability, ethnicity, or race. He represented Leilani Muir and many other sterilization survivors in court against the Province of Alberta. His practice now focuses strongly on aboriginal, constitutional, and class or mass actions. Faulds has been a frequent speaker on legal practice issues, and has a guest speaker on conferences dealing with aboriginal law issues.

Faulds was part of a national team of lawyers in Canada that represented clients who were former students in aboriginal residential schools. Although the original intention of residential schools was to teach English and Christianity to aboriginal children and adolescents, for the 150,000 who were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to the schools, many were physically and sexually abused until 1996 when the last school was closed (Jackson). This suit, which was settled in 2007, sought and achieved compensation and benefits totaling about $1.9 billion for about 80,000 former students which included 12,000 to 20,000 individuals who had suffered physical and/or sexual abuse in the schools (Cohen, 2006; Jackson, 2011).

Sandra Anderson is an attorney in Alberta, and prior to her retirement, worked at the Field Law firm. Anderson served as council for Leilani Muir and other sterilization victims. She has been a active speaker at educational venues on eugenics in Alberta.

Anderson's primary areas of practice have been in labour, employment and privacy law (ATA). But her most notable cases have been those dealing with the “abrogation of fundamental human rights” (Eisler et al, 1997). One of the most public of such cases was that of her client, Leilani Muir, who successfully sued the province of Alberta for forcing her to be sterilized when Muir was a teenager, achieving for Muir $740,000 in damages for the pain and suffering Muir experienced from the effects of her forced sterilization (Eisler et al, 1997).

Anderson has also been very involved with education, and was presented with the 2012 Public Education Award from the Alberta Teacher's Association. She also serves on the board of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Edmonton Region. Before becoming a lawyer, Anderson finished a Ph.D. in German Literature (ATA News, 2012).

Besides practicing law, Anderson has also been very active in speaking about the history and atrocities of eugenics in Alberta in various school and educational venues (Wahlsten, 2011).

Robert A. Wilson is professor of philosophy in the Department of Politics and Philosophy at La Trobe University in Melbourne. Rob taught at the University of Alberta, Canada from 2000-2017, where he was the founding director of Philosophy for Children Alberta (2008-2015) and of Eugenics Archives (2010-2015). He was born in Broken Hill in New South Wales, grew up there and in Perth in Western Australia, and completed his M.A. and Ph.D. at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Rob's areas of specialization include the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, philosophy of biology, and disability studies. He is the author or editor of seven books, including Boundaries of the Mind (2004) and Genes and the Agents of Life (2005), both published with Cambridge University Press. Rob's most recent book is The Eugenic Mind Project (MIT Press, 2018), and he has recently finished a book on kinship; a more complete view of his work is available at robwilsonphilosophy.com. Surviving Eugenics is his first venture into the world of film-making.

Allan Garber LL.B. is a lawyer in Edmonton, Alberta that specializes in the rights of the elderly and hospital patients (Zabjek, 2011). In 1998, Garber represented 150 of the nearly 700 sterilization victims in a class action lawsuit against the province of Alberta for wrongful sterilization (Honore, 1998).

Some of Garber's clients had not only been sterilized by the province, but had also been used as subjects for experimental drug research without their knowledge or consent. The drugs used on these victims included the anabolic steroid norbolethone (now illegal in Canada) that was given to treat ‘undersized’ children, as well as the anti-psychotic tranquilizer haloperidol (Jimenez, 1998). In total, the class-action litigation against the province lasted three years and finally ended on November 2, 1999 with Justice Minister David Hancock announcing a settlement of $142 million as compensation to the victims (Lexpert, 2000).

Lesley Cormack is an historian of science, interested in the history of geography and mathematics in early modern England and Europe. She has been Dean of Arts at the University of Alberta since 2010. Dr. Cormack was previously Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver (2007–2010). Before that, she spent 17 years at the University of Alberta as a Professor, taking on Associate Chair (2000-2002) and Chair (2003-2007) roles with the Department of History and Classics. Dr. Cormack holds an MA and PhD, both from the University of Toronto. She currently serves as President of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science.

David King is a former member of the Alberta legislature having served from 1971 to 1986, and is noted as the one responsible for the repeal of the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta in 1972 (Power, 2011). He is an outspoken critic of eugenic policies.