Leilani Muir Sues Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Alberta

June 12, 1995. Alberta’s Sexual Sterilization Act was repealed under Peter Lougheed’s government in 1972, and the Eugenics Board was subsequently dismantled. Little further public attention was given to the actions and history of the board until the mid-1990s when Leilani Muir, a woman who had been sterilized as a teenager, successfully sued the Alberta government.

Muir had been institutionalized at the Provincial Training School for Mental Defectives (PTS) in Red Deer, Alberta by her mother at the age of ten, and spent the rest of her childhood there. While at the institution, Muir was termed a “moron”, and was sterilized by order of the Eugenics Board.

After being released from the institution at age 20, Muir went on to marry. Upon discovering that she was unable to bear children because she was sterilized, Muir was devastated. She decided to no longer be a victim, and became the first eugenics survivor to file and win a lawsuit for wrongful sterilization against the government.

Muir v. The Queen in Right of Alberta was a landmark case in Canada. Muir was defended by P.J. Faulds and S.M. Anderson.

The verdict was announced on 25 January 1996, and in the summary of the verdict, Judge J. Veit declared that,

“In 1959, the province wrongfully surgically sterilized Ms Muir and now acknowledges its obligation to pay damages to her.”

In response, the judge ordered the state pay Ms. Muir for wrongful sterilization, pain and suffering, aggravated damages, pain and suffering and interest to a total settlement of $740, 780.

Muir’s successful court case inspired hundreds of formerly institutionalized people and other eugenics survivors to sue the province of Alberta for wrongful confinement, physical and sexual abuse, forced labour, wrongful sterilization, and other forms of maltreatment.

-Sheila Gibbons

  • Muir, L. (n.d.). Leilani Muir: My story will inspire you (blog). Retrieved from leilanimuir.ca.

  • Muir v. The Queen in right of Alberta. (1996, January 25). 123 DLR. 4th 695. Alberta Court of the Queens Bench.

Leilani Muir Sues Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Alberta

June 12, 1995. Alberta’s Sexual Sterilization Act was repealed under Peter Lougheed’s government in 1972, and the Eugenics Board was subsequently dismantled. Little further public attention was given to the actions and history of the board until the mid-1990s when Leilani Muir, a woman who had been sterilized as a teenager, successfully sued the Alberta government.

Muir had been institutionalized at the Provincial Training School for Mental Defectives (PTS) in Red Deer, Alberta by her mother at the age of ten, and spent the rest of her childhood there. While at the institution, Muir was termed a “moron”, and was sterilized by order of the Eugenics Board.

After being released from the institution at age 20, Muir went on to marry. Upon discovering that she was unable to bear children because she was sterilized, Muir was devastated. She decided to no longer be a victim, and became the first eugenics survivor to file and win a lawsuit for wrongful sterilization against the government.

Muir v. The Queen in Right of Alberta was a landmark case in Canada. Muir was defended by P.J. Faulds and S.M. Anderson.

The verdict was announced on 25 January 1996, and in the summary of the verdict, Judge J. Veit declared that,

“In 1959, the province wrongfully surgically sterilized Ms Muir and now acknowledges its obligation to pay damages to her.”

In response, the judge ordered the state pay Ms. Muir for wrongful sterilization, pain and suffering, aggravated damages, pain and suffering and interest to a total settlement of $740, 780.

Muir’s successful court case inspired hundreds of formerly institutionalized people and other eugenics survivors to sue the province of Alberta for wrongful confinement, physical and sexual abuse, forced labour, wrongful sterilization, and other forms of maltreatment.

-Sheila Gibbons

  • Muir, L. (n.d.). Leilani Muir: My story will inspire you (blog). Retrieved from leilanimuir.ca.

  • Muir v. The Queen in right of Alberta. (1996, January 25). 123 DLR. 4th 695. Alberta Court of the Queens Bench.