More than a hundred Indigenous women from across Quebec will take part this afternoon in a demonstration against systemic racism and discrimination this afternoon near the National Assembly, in the hope of convincing the Legault government. to take “concrete actions” in this direction.
From the Viens Commission to coroner Géhane Kamel’s report on the death of Joyce Echaquan to a recent research report that documented 22 cases of Indigenous women who allegedly underwent forced sterilization between 1980 and 2019, the past few years have helped to document the extent of abuse suffered by Aboriginal women in Quebec, particularly in hospitals.
“It affects women, it affects the hospital environment. There are coroner’s reports, there are legal reports. And we say to ourselves: if this is not systemic racism, what is it first? » launches at To have to the president of Quebec Native Women, Marjolaine Étienne, who salutes the “courage” of the native women who have allowed these reports to see the light of day by denouncing the injustices they have suffered.
It is therefore to bring this message to the Legault government that around a hundred Aboriginal women – according to Ms. Étienne’s estimates – will converge at 3 p.m. this Saturday near the National Assembly from different communities located in some cases as far away than on the North Shore and in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
“Some women traveled by air; others traveled 10 hours” to take part in this demonstration, recalls Ms. Étienne. The mobilization will include a march to the Blue Room which will be followed by speeches by representatives of Indigenous communities as well as Joyce Echaquan’s mother, Diane Dubé. “We want to make our voices heard,” continues Ms. Étienne, who also made a request to meet with the Minister responsible for First Nations and Inuit Relations, Ian Lafrenière.
“It is important for us to know its orientations and its priorities with regard to Aboriginal women,” notes Ms. Étienne, who hopes that this meeting will take place before Christmas.
A meeting requested
The demonstrators also intend to urge the Legault government to adopt the Joyce Principle. Developed by the Conseil de la Nation Atikamekw, it aims “to guarantee to all Aboriginal people the right of equitable access, without any discrimination, to all social and health services”. However, Quebec refuses to adopt this principle, because it would imply that the government admits that systemic racism exists in the province, which it refuses to do.
A petition supported by solidarity MP Manon Massé has also collected more than 260 signatures in recent days to urge the Government of Quebec to “implement concrete actions to eradicate systemic racism and discrimination rooted in our institutions for colonization “. The document also urges Quebec to adopt “without reservation” the Joyce Principle, presented for the first time to the National Assembly in November 2020, in addition to implementing “culturally adapted and culturally safe services in collaboration with Indigenous peoples” .
Marjolaine Étienne also believes that it is time to draw up a “states general” of the numerous reports issued in recent years concerning the abuse suffered by Aboriginal women in Quebec. “We’re going to have to take a break and sit down with the women members of the First Nations as well as with the Government of Quebec to see things more clearly,” says the president of Quebec Native Women. , who thus hopes to “improve the living conditions” of these.