On September 28, 37-year-old Canadian aboriginal woman Joyce Echacon came to Jollet, Quebec with abdominal pain Hospital visits. However, she did not get the treatment she needed. Instead, she heard the hospital staff say that she was stupidly stupid and was only suitable for sexual intercourse and died.
Echacon was so uncomfortable that she screamed and cried, so she opened the live video on Facebook. In this video that went viral on the Internet, Echacon said in his native language that he was worried that the doctor had injected her with an excessive amount of morphine because she was allergic to morphine. “My dear, it’s unwise for you to do this.” The voice of a hospital employee was clearly discernible in the video, “How would your children feel when they saw you?”
Echacon posted this He died shortly after the video. Although the results of the autopsy have not yet been announced, her family firmly believes that the high dose of morphine was one of the causes of her death. In response, the hospital launched an internal investigation.
Echacon was born in the Atikamaker tribe in southwest Quebec and is the mother of seven children. Her death aroused anger in the Canadian community, because as early as this summer, the protests had already pushed systemic racial discrimination against indigenous people to the forefront.
In June, a driving record exposed the Athabasca-Chippwine tribe chief Alan Adam being beaten by the police. The reason was that the police suspected that he had displayed an expired license plate and stopped him for questioning. This incident provoked protests across Canada. Like the US protesters’ appeals in the George Floyd case, Canadian protesters also called for police reforms.
In the same month, in British Columbia, Canada’s westernmost province, health workers were charged for placing a bet on the amount of alcohol in the blood of indigenous people. This draws people’s attention to the racism in Canada’s state-owned healthcare service system. Today, the death of Echacon has made the anti-racism movement urgent, and protests have erupted across Canada.
Echacon’s husband Carlo Dibe said at a press conference on October 2nd: “I firmly believe that my wife’s death was caused by systemic racial discrimination that “contaminated” the Jolet Hospital.” The whole family was prepared to deal with the incident. The hospital filed a lawsuit. “She spent the last days in pain, surrounded by people who dismissed her, and those people should have protected her.”
| Fatal racial discrimination |
With the fermentation of the Echacon incident , The government has launched several investigations, two of which are under the responsibility of the local health department. One is to investigate the case of Echacan, and the other is to investigate the routine operation of the hospital involved. The nurses and paramedics in the video have been fired.
Politicians also expressed their views on the death of Echacon. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it “the worst form of racial discrimination.” The governor of Quebec, François Lego, apologized to Echacon’s family, but denied that there is systematic racial discrimination in the province. “Ms. Echacon’s experience is unacceptable.” He said at the Quebec National Assembly, “but this does not mean that there is racial discrimination in Quebec.”
For the 1.6 million aboriginals of Canada, there is an They have heard enough apologies from politicians from all sides for the ongoing discrimination against indigenous people. Many aboriginal leaders said that the talk time is over.
“The governor has already apologized twice this year.” said Constant Awahis, the chief chief of the Atikamec tribe, and specifically mentioned that Lego was not invited to the funeral of Echakan because he Deny the existence of systemic racial discrimination. “Now, what we want is action.”
In recent years, evidence of racial discrimination in Canada’s healthcare system has gradually emerged. A 2015 report showed that racial discrimination has led to the deterioration of the health of Canadian aborigines. In 2018, Aboriginal women across Canada stood up and said that they had been forced to undergo sterilization. A public investigation revealed that it is difficult for the indigenous people of Quebec to obtain government services, including health care. However, only one year after the publication of this report, the Echacon incident occurred.
Many indigenous people believe that although there are many investigation reports, there are few practical measures to solve racial discrimination in the medical and health system. Compared with the Canadian national average, Aboriginal people have a shorter life expectancy and a higher prevalence of chronic diseases. “Echarcon’s death did not reflect any new problems.” said Mary McCallum, a professor at the University of Winnipeg and chief scientist in Canada who specializes in Aboriginal, history and archives. “This incident tells us that medical Racial discrimination in the health sector is threatening and even ending the lives of indigenous people.”
| The current epidemic urgently needs action|The
new crown epidemic further highlights the impact of racial discrimination on the health of indigenous people. The Canadian federal government calls on its citizens to increase social distancing, wash their hands frequently, and get tested immediately when symptoms occur, but many aborigines just want to ask how such measures can be implemented. Nearly a quarter of Canadian aboriginals still live in crowded houses, and 61 aboriginal tribes have not used clean water for at least a year.
”Our health care system is based on apartheid.” McCallum said, “White supremacy and colonialism exist in every aspect of our lives-the air we breathe and the water we drink in Canada. “The
federal government claims that they are taking action to address the problem of systemic racial discrimination against indigenous people. On September 30, several parliament members gathered to commemorate “Orange Shirt Day.” This national holiday, established in 2013, aims to raise awareness of the traumatic impact of the “Indigenous Boarding School Project”. Before the mid-1990s, the Canadian government and the Christian church had taken Aboriginal children from their own communities and forced them to abandon their own culture.
In the House of Representatives, politicians also held commemorative events for the survivors of the “Boarding School Project” and talked about Echacon. “It is totally unacceptable that this happened in Canada.” Trudeau said when talking about Echarcon. “We will do our best to eliminate racial discrimination.”
However, for Echarcon’s family, these clichés It is far from enough. In an interview with Aboriginal TV Station, Dibey said: “All we get is questions and condolences, but there is no solution.” When his son comforted him, he broke down to tears. “I haven’t had time to tell her that I love her.”
