The Manawan community is still reeling from the death of Joyce Echaquan in 2020. It was a watershed moment for a community which often felt ignored and neglected by local health and services establishments in Joliette. It also forced the Quebec government to take a position on systemic racism a form of discrimination entrenched through generations of exclusion. To this day, the Atikamekw community is afraid to show up at the hospital.
This article originally called Carol Dube Joyce Dube. It has been corrected.
A First Nation in the Canadian province of Quebec is calling on the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to come to Canada to investigate systemic racism in government services.
In a letter on Monday, leaders in Atikamekw of Manawan, a community about 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of Montreal, asked Francisco Cali Tzay to pressure Canada to guarantee equitable access to healthcare and other social services for Indigenous peoples.
The letter, released on International Women’s Day, comes months after the death of Joyce Echaquan, an Atikamekw mother of seven who died in a Quebec hospital in September after she filmed staff making racist comments towards her.
Winnipeg Free Press By: The Canadian Press
Last Modified: 4:44 PM CST Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020
QUEBEC - The Quebec government introduced legislation on Wednesday that would allow relatives of Indigenous children who disappeared or died after being admitted to health-care facilities to obtain information about their loved ones.
Quebec Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafreniere speaks at a news conference after he was sworn in on October 9, 2020 at the legislature in Quebec City. Quebec s Indigenous Affairs Minister is tabling a bill that would allow relatives of Indigenous children who disappeared or died after being admitted to health-care facilities to obtain information about their loved ones. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot