Echaquan family to file lawsuit
TROIS-RIVIÈRES, QUE. • Joyce Echaquan’s family said Tuesday it would launch legal action against the hospital where she died, hours after a Quebec coroner said a combination of “undeniable” systemic racism and healthcare system failings contributed to her death.
Lawyer Patrick Martin-ménard was flanked by Echaquan’s husband, Carol Dubé, as well as other members of the family as he announced the civil suit.
Martin-ménard told reporters in Bécancour, Que., that Echaquan was the victim of negligence “at several levels” and said her death was “triggered by a combination of deficient health-care and racist prejudices and misconceptions.” Details of the civil suit would be announced in the coming days, he added.
Dubé, who was joined by one of his daughters, spoke quietly and kept his head bowed as he once again called for changes to a system that he said discriminated against Indigenous families and judged his wife for having had multiple children.
“Joyce is dead because she was Indigenous,” he said. “A woman with seven marvellous children — what she had that was most beautiful was used against her in a system that still allows this kind of tragic situation to happen.”
Earlier Tuesday, coroner Géhane Kamel said that from the moment Echaquan entered the hospital in Joliette, Que., in 2020, she was falsely labelled as a drug addict and a “difficult” patient — a label that would impact her care until her death two days later.
Kamel’s report into Echaquan’s death found that her demise was accidental, but avoidable. Kamel said the 37-year-old Atikamekw woman would likely still be alive if she were a white woman.
The coroner reiterated her recommendation that the government should recognize the existence of systemic racism and make a commitment to root it out of institutions — something the Legault government has steadfastly refused to do.
“We have witnessed an unacceptable death, and we must ensure that it is not in vain,” Kamel said. “It is unacceptable that large sections of our society deny such a well-documented reality.”
In Quebec City, Premier François Legault told reporters he agreed that Echaquan was subjected to prejudice, discrimination and racism at the hospital northeast of Montreal. But he maintained that systemic racism does not exist in the province, blaming what happened to Echaquan on a few health-care employees.
“Is the entire education system, or health system racist? I believe the answer is no,” Legault said. “But it’s possible that at certain places, there are employees, groups of them who have discriminatory approaches. But to say that the entire system is racist, I can’t accept it.”
Kamel said she wouldn’t get involved in a political debate, but maintained systemic racism was “undeniable” in Echaquan’s case.