From Wikipedia:
In 1928, the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada, enacted the Sexual Sterilization Act. The Act, drafted to protect the gene pool, allowed for sterilization of mentally disabled persons in order to prevent the transmission of undesirable traits to offspring.
Examination of sterilization records demonstrates that legislation did not apply equally to all members of society. Specifically, the Act was disproportionately applied to those in socially vulnerable positions, including: females, children, unemployed persons, domestics, rural citizens, unmarried, institutionalized persons, Roman and Greek Catholics, persons of Ukrainian, Native and Métis ethnicity.
It took over 40 years to get this act repealed which effected almost 3,000 people with a slew of justifications including growing fear that new immigrants were inferior, generating fears over the protection of land and jobs. Many eugenics programs in North America were financed by the very wealthy Rockefeller family.