The mother of a mentally retarded adult daughter applied for court authorization to consent to her daughter's sterilization for non-therapeutic purposes.
The trial judge denied the application, but the Appeal Division allowed it, authorizing a hysterectomy under the court's parens patriae jurisdiction.
The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal, holding that the parens patriae jurisdiction cannot be used to authorize the non-therapeutic sterilization of a mentally incompetent person, as it can never be safely determined that such a procedure is for their benefit.
