diff --git a/cpp/include/cudf/detail/groupby/sort_helper.hpp b/cpp/include/cudf/detail/groupby/sort_helper.hpp
index 4cb218bdb8c..bfc9673d3cb 100644
--- a/cpp/include/cudf/detail/groupby/sort_helper.hpp
+++ b/cpp/include/cudf/detail/groupby/sort_helper.hpp
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ struct sort_groupby_helper {
    */
   std::unique_ptr<column> sorted_values(
     column_view const& values,
-    rmm::cuda_stream_view stream        = rmm::cuda_stream_default,
+    rmm::cuda_stream_view stream,
     rmm::mr::device_memory_resource* mr = rmm::mr::get_current_device_resource());
 
   /**
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ struct sort_groupby_helper {
    */
   std::unique_ptr<column> grouped_values(
     column_view const& values,
-    rmm::cuda_stream_view stream        = rmm::cuda_stream_default,
+    rmm::cuda_stream_view stream,
     rmm::mr::device_memory_resource* mr = rmm::mr::get_current_device_resource());
 
   /**
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ struct sort_groupby_helper {
    * @return a new table in which each row is a unique row in the sorted key table.
    */
   std::unique_ptr<table> unique_keys(
-    rmm::cuda_stream_view stream        = rmm::cuda_stream_default,
+    rmm::cuda_stream_view stream,
     rmm::mr::device_memory_resource* mr = rmm::mr::get_current_device_resource());
 
   /**
@@ -126,16 +126,13 @@ struct sort_groupby_helper {
    * @return a new table containing the sorted keys.
    */
   std::unique_ptr<table> sorted_keys(
-    rmm::cuda_stream_view stream        = rmm::cuda_stream_default,
+    rmm::cuda_stream_view stream,
     rmm::mr::device_memory_resource* mr = rmm::mr::get_current_device_resource());
 
   /**
    * @brief Get the number of groups in `keys`
    */
-  size_type num_groups(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream = rmm::cuda_stream_default)
-  {
-    return group_offsets(stream).size() - 1;
-  }
+  size_type num_groups(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream) { return group_offsets(stream).size() - 1; }
 
   /**
    * @brief Return the effective number of keys
@@ -144,7 +141,7 @@ struct sort_groupby_helper {
    * When include_null_keys = NO, returned value is the number of rows in `keys`
    *  in which no element is null
    */
-  size_type num_keys(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream = rmm::cuda_stream_default);
+  size_type num_keys(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream);
 
   /**
    * @brief Get the sorted order of `keys`.
@@ -159,7 +156,7 @@ struct sort_groupby_helper {
    *
    * @return the sort order indices for `keys`.
    */
-  column_view key_sort_order(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream = rmm::cuda_stream_default);
+  column_view key_sort_order(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream);
 
   /**
    * @brief Get each group's offset into the sorted order of `keys`.
@@ -172,7 +169,7 @@ struct sort_groupby_helper {
    * @return vector of offsets of the starting point of each group in the sorted
    * key table
    */
-  index_vector const& group_offsets(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream = rmm::cuda_stream_default);
+  index_vector const& group_offsets(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream);
 
   /**
    * @brief Get the group labels corresponding to the sorted order of `keys`.
@@ -187,7 +184,7 @@ struct sort_groupby_helper {
    *
    * @return vector of group labels for each row in the sorted key column
    */
-  index_vector const& group_labels(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream = rmm::cuda_stream_default);
+  index_vector const& group_labels(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream);
 
  private:
   /**
@@ -204,7 +201,7 @@ struct sort_groupby_helper {
    * @return A nullable column of `INT32` containing group labels in the order
    *         of the unsorted key table
    */
-  column_view unsorted_keys_labels(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream = rmm::cuda_stream_default);
+  column_view unsorted_keys_labels(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream);
 
   /**
    * @brief Get the column representing the row bitmask for the `keys`
@@ -218,7 +215,7 @@ struct sort_groupby_helper {
    * Computes and stores bitmask on first invocation and returns stored column
    * on subsequent calls.
    */
-  column_view keys_bitmask_column(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream = rmm::cuda_stream_default);
+  column_view keys_bitmask_column(rmm::cuda_stream_view stream);
 
  private:
   column_ptr _key_sorted_order;      ///< Indices to produce _keys in sorted order
diff --git a/cpp/src/groupby/groupby.cu b/cpp/src/groupby/groupby.cu
index 228c0a0eef7..e3238468d0b 100644
--- a/cpp/src/groupby/groupby.cu
+++ b/cpp/src/groupby/groupby.cu
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ groupby::groups groupby::get_groups(table_view values, rmm::mr::device_memory_re
 
   if (values.num_columns()) {
     auto grouped_values = cudf::detail::gather(values,
-                                               helper().key_sort_order(),
+                                               helper().key_sort_order(rmm::cuda_stream_default),
                                                cudf::out_of_bounds_policy::DONT_CHECK,
                                                cudf::detail::negative_index_policy::NOT_ALLOWED,
                                                rmm::cuda_stream_default,