Vigils Across Quebec for Victim of Racism

Justice for Joyce Echaquan

- Christine Dandenault -

Vigil outside Joyce Echaquan's home after her death in hospital, September 28, 2020.

On Monday, September 28, Joyce Echaquan, a young Atikamekw woman from Manawan in Lanaudière, Quebec, aged 37 and mother of seven children, died at the Lanaudière Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS) under disturbing circumstances. She had been admitted a few days earlier for stomach pain. She filmed herself live on Facebook as she called for help and felt herself dying. Instead of receiving the care she needed, she was ostracized. Racist and disparaging remarks against her made by a nurse and an orderly present in her room are heard on the recording. Her video also shows that she was restrained and reports indicate she was given morphine. Joyce passed away soon afterward. In the days following the tragedy, two staff members involved were dismissed and at least two investigations are underway, one conducted internally by the Lanaudière CISSS and another by the coroner.

Everywhere in Quebec and across Canada, saddened and indignant people reacted strongly to the video, which was seen around the world. Vigils were organized in solidarity with the Echaquan family and the Indigenous communities the next day and during the days that followed in Joliette; in Quebec City in front of the National Assembly; in Pikogan in Abitibi; Cookshire-Eaton in Estrie; Uashat near Sept-Îles; on the unceded territory of the Nitassinan in Saguenay; Sherbrooke; Pessamit near Baie-Comeau; Lac-Simon in the Outaouais; in Ottawa and elsewhere. Virtual vigils were also held. Numerous Indigenous and rights organizations, as well as unions, denounced the treatment Joyce received. On Saturday, October 3, a demonstration demanding Justice for Joyce will be held in Montreal, and a healing walk will be held in Quebec City.

This tragedy comes just days before the 15th Annual Sisters in Spirit Vigil to be held October 4. The vigil, initiated in 2006, will pay tribute to the more than 4,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and demand justice through vigils, both virtual and physical. In Quebec and Canada, Joyce Echaquan's name is on everyone's lips.

This tragedy follows one year after the release of the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Relations Between Aboriginals and Certain Public Services in Quebec: Listening, Reconciliation and Progress, on September 30, 2019.[1] The Commission was established December 21, 2016 following the October 2016 allegations of sexual abuse by eight officers of the Sûreté du Québec against Indigenous women in Val-d'Or. Among the 142 recommendations, one explicitly calls for increased access to health and social services, in both urban and Aboriginal settings.

The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was also recently released, in June 2019.[2] It calls on Canada to defend the rights of all and abolish the conception of rights based on privileges and discrimination against those who are in an inferior position in the echelon of power.

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) expresses its deepest condolences to the family of Joyce Echaquan and to the Atikamekw community for the loss of a loved one under such inhumane conditions. Justice must be served for Joyce, her family, her community and all missing and murdered women, their families, Indigenous peoples, organizations and allies across the country.