b'HEALTH & JUSTICETRAGIC DEATHS Preventable deaths of Indigenous DRIVE QUESTSwomen spark calls to action regarding FOR CHANGE systemic racism in healthcareBy Matthew Bradford & Kelly ParkerT he Canadian standard forfor severe stomach pains. Two days later,in it, two employees are insulting her in healthcare has long beenshe died of pulmonary edema: a treatableFrench. They can be heard saying that tied to the promise ofand preventable condition caused byEchaquan made some bad choices, accessible and equitableexcess fluid in the lungs.and that shes good at screwing, more care for all. While many in the healthcarethan anything else. They also insinuated community work hard to uphold thisPrior to her death, Echaquan wasthat her children would be ashamed of commitment, preventable deaths ofincorrectly assessed by doctors, experi- her actions, among other taunts. At one Indigenous women continue to occur inenced a lack of adequate and compas- point in the harrowing video, Echaquan hospitals across the country.sionate care, and was continuouslycan be seen moaning in pain while one subjected to racist remarks from staff. Atof the employees asks if she is done Joyce Echaquans story is a criticalone point, she was even restrained to heracting stupid.reminder that the system continues to fallbed, which staff claimed was by her choice short of this standard. On September 26, but this claim was later denounced byEchaquan died shortly after recording 2020, the Atikamekw mother of seven wasCoroner Ghane Kamel. her experience. And as hard as it is to transported from her home in Manawanwatch, her video is an important record to the Centre hospitalier de Lanaudire inEchaquan recorded her experience in aof the lethally racist treatment Indigenous Joliette, Quebec, where she was admittedseven-minute live stream on September 28:peoples continue to face.Painted stones commemorating the life of Heather Winterstein, a young Indigenous The death of Joyce Echequan, after horrible abuse andwoman who died after her health concerns neglect at a Quebec hospital, has triggered calls for change were dismissed at an Ontario hospital28Fall/Winter 2023'