A jarring video has emerged showing hospital staff in Canada verbally abusing a sick indigenous woman and calling her 'stupid'...
A jarring video has emerged showing hospital staff in Canada verbally abusing a sick indigenous woman and calling her 'stupid' as she writhes in pain, moments before her death.
Joyce Echaquan, 37, from Manawan, died on Monday, two days after she was admitted to Joliette hospital in Quebec with stomach pains.
During her stay, the mother-of-seven, who was a member of the Atikamekw Indigenous tribe, used her phone to start a Facebook livestream, capturing the disparaging remarks made by hospital workers.
In the footage shared by CBC, nurses can be heard in French calling Echaquan 'stupid as hell,' and suggesting she was only good for sex.
Joyce Echaquan shared a Facebook Live video from hospital that captured the disparaging remarks made by her nurses before she died on Monday
The 37-year-old died two days after she was admitted to Joliette hospital in Quebec with stomach pains
'Are you done acting stupid? Are you done?' one of the nurses says as the woman moans in pain.
'You made some bad choices, my dear,' another nurse said. 'What are your children going to think, seeing you like this?'
'She's good at having sex, more than anything else,' the other nurse adds.
Echaquan's family said the mother had a heart problem and believe she died after she was given too much morphine, according to a GoFundMe page.
The videos sparked a wave of criticism and protest in a country which has a long history of abuse against its indigenous people.
'Like all Quebecers I was shocked by the racism she was subjected to,' Quebec Premier Francois Legault told reporters in Quebec City on Wednesday.
He said a provincial task force on racism would issue recommendations in the coming weeks, and a nurse had been fired over the incident.
The 37-year-old mother of seven, who was a member of the Atikamekw tribe, filmed herself being abuses by hospital nurses as she writhed in pain. Officials on Wednesday said an investigation into her death has been opened
Joyce's husband, Carol Dube and her mother Diane Echaquan Dube (right) attend a vigil in front of the hospital in Joliette, Quebec on Tuesday
Echaquan's death has drawn outrage and protests in the community amid ongoing concerns over treatment of indigenous people in Canada
'I have seven children who no longer have a mother,' Carol Dube, Echaquan's husband, told Radio-Canada on Tuesday.
Echaquan's death comes amid ongoing concerns over treatment of indigenous people in Canada, who make up about five per cent of Canada's nearly 37 million population.
A 2019 Quebec government report found systemic discrimination against indigenous people accessing public services.
In June, a video showing a forceful arrest of a Canadian indigenous leader by Royal Canadian Mounted Police over an incident involving an expired license plate was criticized by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Federal Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said Echaquan's death 'is not an isolated event.'
'Justice for Joyce' protests are planned in cities across the country in the coming days, including one in Montreal on Saturday that organizers estimate will draw over a thousand attendees.
'There are many indigenous people that are in the hospital that don't have a telephone to record such a situation,' said Claudette Dumont-Smith, executive director at the Native Women's Association of Canada.
Echaquan's family said the mother had a heart problem and believe she died after she was given too much morphine. One of the nurses has been fired over the incident
No comments