François Legault Joyce Echaquan Quebec racism Ian Laferrière

Legault on Joyce Echaquan anniversary: “We must continue to fight racism in Quebec”

The premier recently said that the racism problem at the hospital where the Indigenous woman tragically died has been solved.

Quebec Premier François Legault shared a statement about racism on this second anniversary of the death of Joyce Echaquan due to neglect at a Joliette hospital. The Atikamekw woman captured the racist verbal abuse that she was subjected to by nurses in the hospital on Facebook live, shortly before her death.

“Two years now since the death of Joyce Echaquan. My thoughts are obviously with her family, loved ones and community on this difficult day. We must continue to fight racism in Quebec.”

—François Legault

The two nurses in the video were fired and the rest of the hospital staff underwent sensitization training in the months following the tragic incident. This scrutiny and apparent effort to instill more cultural sensitivity to Indigenous patients among the staff has led Legault to say, on several occasions recently (including in the first election-campaign debate), that the racism problem at that hospital has been solved.

Legault has repeatedly suggested that the problem at the Joliette hospital was due to a few bad apples, and that it’s not indicative of systemic racism in Quebec. In the coroner’s report on the death of Joyce Echaquan, it was concluded that systemic racism contributed significantly to the 37-year-old woman’s death.

Legault on Joyce Echaquan anniversary: “We must continue to fight racism in Quebec”

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