Chief of Joyce Echaquan’s community says trust in Quebec health care system returning

JOLIETTE, Que. _ The chief of the Atikamekw Council of Manawan says members of his community are slowly regaining their trust in Quebec’s health-care system.

Paul-Emile Ottawa told reporters today that while more needed to be done, the regional health board has made real progress since the death of Joyce Echaquan, an Atikamekw woman who died in 2020 at the hospital in Joliette, Que., northeast of Montreal.

Earlier this week, coroner Gehane Kamel said Echaquan would likely still be alive if she were a white woman and that systemic racism contributed to her death.

Maryse Poupart, who was named CEO of the regional health authority in March, said today she welcomed the coroner’s recommendations for her agency, adding that all of them had either been implemented or were part of existing plans.

However, when asked if she acknowledged the existence systemic racism, Poupart said she appreciated things have to change at the health board, but she wouldn’t enter into a debate on semantics.

Poupart says the process of improving relations with the Atikamekw people is ongoing and will take time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2021.