The 20th-century ideas and practices aimed at “improving human stock” known as eugenics were influential across the world, including in Canada. In 1928, the province of Alberta introduced the Sexual Sterilization Act, which promoted the practice of surgical sterilization for those deemed “mental defectives”, a practice in effect until 1972. British Columbia was the only other Canadian province to enact comparable eugenic sterilization legislation, which was in place until 1973. This History has special significance for people with disabilities and others marginalized by eugenic ideas today.