Legault maintains position on systemic racism in Quebec despite Echaquan coroner’s report

QUEBEC CITY, Que. — Premier Francois Legault says he agrees that Joyce Echaquan was subjected to prejudice, discrimination and racism at the Joliette, Que., hospital where she died in September 2020.

But the premier maintained that systemic racism does not exist in the province, blaming what happened to Echaquan on some health-care employees and quoting a definition of “systemic” from the dictionary to back up his position.

Gehane Kamel’s report into Echaquan’s death found that her demise was accidental, but avoidable. As she presented her report on Tuesday, Kamel said the 37-year-old Atikamekw mother of seven 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.

Legault says that for him, a system is something that “starts from the top.” While some employees or managers may engage in discriminatory practices, he said, they are not ordered to do so from their superiors.

“The point is not who is right,” Legault said. “The goal is that we all work together to fight prejudice, discrimination and racism.”

Echaquan filmed herself on Facebook Live as a nurse and an orderly were heard making derogatory comments toward her shortly before her death Sept. 28, 2020, at a hospital in Joliette, northeast of Montreal.

The video of her treatment went viral and drew outrage and condemnation, and the coroner’s final report into her death concluded her initial diagnosis was based on prejudice and she wasn’t properly monitored before finally being transferred to intensive care.

Echaquan died of a pulmonary edema that was linked to a rare heart condition.