Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending his government’s response to a U-N committee that has ordered Canada to halt the forced sterilization of Indigenous women and girls.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Committee Against Torture demanded Canada stop what it called an “extensive” practice.

Trudeau calls such sterilizations “heinous,” and says a working group of senior officials will oversee measures to improve cultural safety in Canada’s health systems.

But in an interview with The Canadian Press, Trudeau warns any unilateral imposition of a solution no matter how well-meaning will fail.

The U-N committee wants all allegations impartially investigated and those responsible held to account.

And it says the government needs to take legislative and policy measures to stop women from being sterilized against their will.

Last week, two of Trudeau’s ministers Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott and Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor sent letters to the provinces, territories and medical community citing “recent reports with troubling information” regarding Indigenous women who report that they have been sterilized without their consent.

Senator Yvonne Boyer, a Metis lawyer who co-published an external review of allegations in the Saskatoon Health Region, says a clear action plan led by women affected by coerced sterilization needs to be implemented.  (The Canadian Press)