The fate of Joyce Echaquan, an Indigenous woman whose final hours were spoiled by humiliating slurs, isn’t unique as native Canadians are stigmatized everywhere, her cousin told RT as anti-racism rallies are held nationwide.
Canada’s Indigenous people are “always treated differently, and it doesn’t depend on whether it’s a public service or a shop or anything else,” Reginald Echaquan told RT days after his cousin Joyce died in Joliette, about 70km north of Montreal.
Echaquan, a 37-year-old mother of seven, suddenly felt unwell and was admitted to a Joliette hospital with stomach pain in late-September. The drama unfolded last Monday, when the woman went live on Facebook, posting an extremely disturbing video that showed her screaming in clear distress and moaning in pain.
Meanwhile, medical staff could be heard calling her “stupid as hell” in French and suggesting she had made “bad choices.” It is reported she was also asked what her children would think if they saw her “like this.”
Echaquan – who had a record of heart issues – reportedly died shortly after the live stream ended. The true cause of her death is yet to be revealed, but in her previous videos, she told followers that the staff administered her too much morphine even after her complaints.
