MP, senator call for government to apologize for forced adoptions

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

Gould told a press conference 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.

“Today is about letting Canadians know that this is something that happened here in Canada … And it’s about bringing closure and justice for these women and their children,” she said.

Gould added other countries, including Australia, Wales and Ireland, “all had similar practices and each of those countries has issued formal apologies and provided support to these survivors.”

Petitclerc said forced adoption practices were enabled by institutions and public policies.

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

Petitclerc said many of those mothers are still waiting “to hear their country finally say, ‘We recognize what happened and we are sorry.'” She said the adoptees and families continue to live with the consequences of the forced adoptions.

Former senator Art Eggleton was the chair of the Senate social affairs committee when it issued a report on the topic in 2018.

He said at Tuesday’s press conference it’s “important to relaunch this endeavour, both in the House of Commons and in the Senate, and to bring some closure to the issue.”

He said that would include offering counselling services and helping to reunite those who want to meet their family members.

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

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press