Those with lived experiences have important knowledge and awareness of the ways systems of dehumanization, erasure, and elimination continue today. They understand the need for ongoing activism.
To explore the ways eugenics is still active today as a legacy of its earlier forms and in new guises within our present-day institutions, visit Marie Slark and Antoinette Charlebois’ Time Tree.
The creators of this activity have developed the Time Tree to show some of the ways that the tools and mechanisms of colonial and eugenic race betterment continue to repeat over time and impact many different people. These dates, tools, and mechanisms also overlap with the lived experiences of other survivors of colonial race betterment ideas and practices, including First Nations, Black, and other racialized settler nations, and people labelled with intellectual or developmental disability. The activism and lived experiences of survivors act as a counterpoint to colonial and eugenic tools and mechanisms that recur through time.
The lived experiences of the survivor-activist whose stories have shaped and guided this module closely connect to the events represented on this Time Tree. There are also gaps in the events represented. We recognize these gaps and ask you to help fill them.
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Look for key events in disability activism that are in opposition to eugenics events;
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Map significant events related to your own lived experiences onto the Time Tree;
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Explore and reflect on the ways events in Slark’s and Charlebois’ lives relate to events in Park’s and Stonefish’s lives;
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What did you notice in the time tree that most surprised you?
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Reflecting on your experience of the time tree, what is missing? How would you go about filling in what is missing? Take some action to fill what is missing;
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Can you imagine a future other than the one given? What would it be like? How can your actions lead to that future you imagine?
