Echaquan inquiry: Quebec nurse admits prejudice among staff about Indigenous patients
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MONTREAL — A nurse who works at the Quebec hospital where Joyce Echaquan died last September told a coroner’s inquest today there is a perception among her colleagues that Indigenous people are alcoholics or drug addicts.
The inquest is investigating the death of Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw mother of seven who filmed herself at the hospital northeast of Montreal as female staff were heard insulting and mocking her not long before she died.
The nurse, whose identify is protected by a publication ban, was first on the stand today and told the inquiry she had never witnessed any negative comments by staff toward Indigenous patients.
But she changed her story after pointed questioning from coroner Géhane Kamel, and the nurse said there were issues between the Atikamekw community and workers at the hospital in Joliette, Que.
