Quebec taking “time to reflect” with “urgent” cultural safety bill

MONTREAL – After hearing harsh criticism from a number of Indigenous stakeholders, Quebec’s Minister Responsible for Relations with First Nations and the Inuit Ian Lafrenière says he wants to take “time to reflect on what’s next” before going any further with his cultural safety bill in the health care and social services network.

More than a month after passing through the specific consultation stage, the bill has still not returned to the menu of the Quebec National Assembly’s Committee on Institutions.

In response to questions from The Canadian Press, Lafrenière office did not specify when the commission’s work on Bill 32 is expected to resume.

For the moment, the Minister says he is analyzing the briefs received. In two days of consultations, 14 individuals and organizations were heard. In addition, seven organizations submitted briefs without having been invited to testify before parliamentarians.

Ian Lafrenière said he had “heard the concerns” of the various stakeholders. Criticism focused in particular on the refusal to recognize the systemic racism suffered by Indigenous people and to adopt the Joyce Principle developed by the Atikamekw community in the wake of Joyce Echaquan’s tragic death at Joliette Hospital in September 2020.

Several witnesses had denounced a “paternalistic”, even “colonialist” approach, devoid of any real co-construction with First Nations and Inuit. Calling for the withdrawal, postponement or rewriting of the bill.

One month later, Minister Lafrenière maintains that we need to “work better together”, which partly explains his willingness to take the necessary time before going any further.

Bill 32 is a four-page document with five articles. With very few constraints, it calls on healthcare establishments to adapt their service offer “where possible”, for example by hiring Indigenous staff, offering support resources, providing training for their staff or “taking into account the specific realities of Indigeneous women and girls”.

Some Indigenous voices see this as yet another attempt to shift the burden onto the shoulders of individuals, without making any real systemic changes.

Urgent need for action

Despite calls to back down and his own desire to take his time, the Minister reiterated that there is nonetheless an “urgent need to act” on this issue. He points out that legislating cultural safety was one of the recommendations of the Viens Commission report.

Former judge Jacques Viens, who chaired the Commission of Inquiry into relations between Indigenous and certain public services in Quebec: listening, reconciliation and progress, also took advantage of the public hearings to declare that it is “impossible to deny the systemic discrimination suffered by First Nations and Inuit”.

He warned the Minister that without this recognition, it will be very difficult for him to move forward “despite all (his) good will and (his) laudable efforts”.

Earlier this month, the Québec Ombudsman followed up on this issue with a report that had little praise for the CAQ government. It revealed that just 11 of the 142 calls to action of the Viens Commission had been fully implemented.

Marc-André Dowd asserted that “systemic discrimination against First Nations and Inuit people persists” in Quebec. He said he considered it “imperative that both the State and society put an end to it”.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on October 18, 2023.