Historical data from Statistics Canada show nearly 600,000 babies were born to unmarried women and were recorded as \u201cillegitimate births\u201d from 1945 to 1971.<\/a> The vast majority of unmarried women were coerced into surrendering their babies for adoption to \u201ctraditional\u201d couples wanting to expand their families.<\/p>\n Unwed mothers were harshly judged back then \u2014 even by their own families \u2014 and were perceived as unfit to care for their own children.<\/p>\n It\u2019s time for governments that were complicit in this disrespect of human rights to call this practice what it was\u00a0 \u2014 a shameful blemish on Canadian history \u2014 and apologize to the hundreds of thousands of women and their children who suffered unspeakable emotional and physical harm.<\/p>\n Last week, the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology released a report, The Shame is Ours: Forced Adoptions of the Babies of Unmarried Mothers in Postwar Canada<\/a><\/em>, <\/em>with four recommendations to provide a measure of relief and comfort<\/a> to the victims of these forced adoption practices.<\/p>\n A key recommendation is for the government to offer an official apology in Parliament to recognize the harm done to so many Canadians. We also recommend allocating funds to provide these women and their now-adult children with counselling services for the trauma and pain they experienced.<\/p>\n In March, four women testified before our committee; they all recounted similar stories of neglect, abuse and deception.<\/p>\n One mother told our committee how she turned to a maternity home for unwed mothers for support in 1968 after her family turned her away during her pregnancy. Then just 20 years old, she was berated by social workers, isolated in an empty room during her pregnancy and coerced into giving her newborn baby boy up for adoption because she was told it was for the best.<\/p>\n She told us she felt powerless when her baby was taken from her and his whereabouts kept secret.<\/p>\n \u201cThe social worker stood in front of me. Coldly, she said, \u2018You will never see your baby again as long as you live. If you search for the paper, you will destroy his life and the life of his adoptive parents,\u2019\u201d the mother said in her testimony.<\/p>\n Other mothers who testified said they were sent away either by their families or churches to these federal and provincially funded maternity homes, where some were treated more like prisoners than residents.<\/p>\n Some said they were forced to have their breasts tightly bound to prevent lactation. They would later be browbeaten into relinquishing their rights to their babies, and led to believe they would be informed about their children once they turned 18. Years later, the mothers would discover the adoption files were sealed.<\/p>\n They were told to never speak about their children again. At least one woman was told to \u201cget a puppy\u201d instead to help her move on.<\/p>\n Australia carried out a similar forced adoption policy after the Second World War. But after a federal inquiry, the Australian government offered an official apology in 2013, and also made a commitment to provide counselling and other reparations to those affected.<\/p>\n Canada should follow Australia\u2019s lead. Time is running out to right this wrong. While an apology and counselling won\u2019t erase the emotional scars inflicted upon these mothers and their children, it can bring a sense of closure to thousands of families who were torn apart.<\/p>\n The harm inflicted on these women and their children was initiated decades ago, but they\u2019re still feeling the lingering effects of the mistreatment today. It\u2019s time to help them heal.<\/p>\n Photo: Shutterstock\/By Andrii Yalanskyi<\/span><\/p>\n Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options\u00a0discussion, and send in your own submission.\u00a0Here is a\u00a0<\/em>link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on how to do it. <\/em>|\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ? <\/em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces\u00a0<\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s hard to imagine today that a woman would have her newborn baby taken from her shortly after giving birth simply because she is unmarried. It\u2019s also hard to fathom in 2018 that the same woman would be bound to a hospital bed, over-medicated and told to forget her \u201cillegitimate\u201d child, or to pretend the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":240084,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T02:10:56Z","apple_news_api_id":"7aab502c-3c69-4187-a332-9a700dbcecce","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T02:10:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AeqtQLDxpQYejMppwDbzszg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9359,9372,9377],"tags":[8493,8360],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4348,4339,4274,4286],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[],"class_list":["post-266428","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loi-droits","category-recent-stories-fr","category-sante","tag-gender-inequality-fr","tag-reconciliation","irpp-category-egalite-des-genres","irpp-category-loi-et-justice","irpp-category-reconciliation","irpp-category-sante"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/EggletonInsidePhoto.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n