(Quebec) François Legault brushes aside the criticisms of the Atikamekw community and those close to Joyce Echaquan, even accusing them of wanting to “have a debate on words” rather than “solve the problems on the ground”.
Posted at 9:12
During the Face-à-Face Thursday evening, François Legault argued that “the problem that happened with Mme Joyce at Joliette Hospital is now settled”. This statement angered the Atikamekw Nation.
According to her, Mr. Legault “sends the message that […] now everything is perfect” when it is not. M’s familyme Echaquan said she was stunned that Mr. Legault supported his statements by arguing that he met the spouse of the deceased, Carol Dubé. Rather, they crossed paths by chance according to the family lawyer, who criticizes Mr. Legault for putting words in the mouth” of Mr. Dubé “for purely electoral purposes”.
In response, on Saturday, François Legault expressed no regrets about his exit during a leaders’ debate. He pleaded that “the situation has completely improved at the Joliette hospital”, in particular with the hiring of native liaison officers. “Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t other hospitals in Quebec where there’s work to be done,” he added.
He went on to criticize the Atikamekw community. “What I saw in the article [portant sur la réaction de la communauté NDLR], is that they want to come back to the issue of systemic racism. So they want to have a debate of words instead of making sure that we solve the problems on the ground, ”he said.
Remember that Joyce Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw, died in 2020 without getting the help she needed at the Joliette hospital. She had filmed live on Facebook nurses throwing racist insults at her. The following year, coroner Géhane Kamel concluded that to prevent a tragedy like Joyce Echaquan’s death from happening again, the Legault government must “recognize the existence of systemic racism” and make a “commitment to contribute to its elimination.