Montreal Gazette – “In her last moments, while tied to a hospital bed, Joyce Echaquan, a 37 year-old Atikamekw woman, pleaded for someone to help her. Instead, a video she recorded shows she received disparaging and condescending remarks — at a time when Québec continues to grapple with the larger question of systemic racism.” The Québec coroner’s office is investigating the death that Premier François Legault insists is not reflective of systemic racism within the Québec Health system despite that conclusion being found by the Viens Commission from one year ago.

“One professor told the commission the situation is so dire many Indigenous people will avoid going to the hospital over fears of being discriminated against. For those who have to go, they mentally prepare themselves first for the treatment they’ll be subjected to…Echaquan had grown so wary of hospital staff that she would often record Facebook live videos from her bed, her cousin said”.

Québec’s Human Rights Commission condemned the “systemic discrimination suffered by Indigenous Peoples, particularly in the health sector.” Echaquan’s death, president Philippe-André Tessier said in a statement, serves as a “tragic reminder of this reality and of the need for concerted and sustained action to address it.” The Grand Chief of the Atikamekw Nation Council, Constant Awashish, called on the government to act swiftly and implement the recommendations put forward by the Viens commission.