‘Dead because she was Indigenous’: Québec coroner says Atikemekw woman a victim of systemic racism – The Guardian
Hospital staff assumed Joyce Echaquan was an opioid addict. She was dying of a rare heart condition
An Indigenous woman who was taunted by nursing staff as she lay dying in a Quebec hospital would probably be alive today if she were white, a coroner has concluded.
The death of Joyce Echaquan was an “undeniable” example of systematic racism in the province, the Québec coroner Géhane Kamel told reporters on Tuesday.
“From the first minute she entered the hospital, a label was placed on Ms Echaquan,” she said.
In September 2021, Echaquan, 37, entered a hospital in Joliette, where she told staff she had a heart condition. As her pain escalated and staff appeared indifferent to her pleas for help, Echaquan started livestreaming her experience on Facebook.
