Justice Lukasz Granosik, of the Superior Court of Quebec, this week ruled that litigants UT and MX can bring the suit on behalf of all Atikamekw women forcibly sterilised from 1980 onwards and their families, The Guardian reports.

Research published last year suggests there were at least 22 cases of forced sterilisation of indigenous women in Quebec from 1980 to 2019, though not all of these victims were of Atikamekw origin.

UT and MX allege that they both underwent a forced tubal ligation at a local hospital after giving birth. Both each gave birth five times at the hospital.

Their application named three doctors and the hospital itself as plaintiffs, but only the case against the doctors will go ahead.

In his judgment this week, Judge Granosik said: “It is quite possible to argue that sterilising a woman without her free and informed consent constitutes a civil fault, ethical misconduct, a criminal act and a violation of [Quebec’s] charter of human rights and freedoms.”

Similar class action lawsuits have been brought in four other Canadian provinces — Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia — but are at an earlier stage.