MP, senator call for government to apologize for forced adoptions

Liberal MP Karina Gould is calling on her government to apologize for its role in forced adoptions. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

OTTAWA — Liberal MP Karina Gould and Sen. Chantal Petitclerc say the government should apologize for its role in supporting the practice of forced adoptions.

Gould says that between the 1940s and 1970s, an estimated 300,000 unmarried women in Canada were coerced or forced into giving up their babies for adoption.

Petitclerc says those practices were enabled by institutions and public policies.

The senator introduced a motion in the Senate today calling on the government to officially apologize to the mothers, adoptees and families who were affected.

Petitclerc says many of those mothers are still waiting “to hear their country finally say, ‘We recognize what happened and we are sorry.’”

She says the adoptees and families continue to live with the consequences of the forced adoptions.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2026

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press