Heritage Minutes: Nellie McClung

Despite her work as a pioneer advocate for womens’ rights, McClung’s legacy is colored by her advocacy for eugenics, and she and Emily Murphy (also a member of the Famous Five) are regarded as two of the most prominent and influential supporters of Alberta’s Sexual Sterilization Act, which organized the involuntary sterilization of people considered “mentally deficient.” The law was enacted in 1928 and repealed in 1972.