Quebec wants employees of the health network to take into account the “cultural and historical realities” of Aboriginal people “in any interaction with them”. The Minister responsible for Relations with First Nations and Inuit, Ian Lafrenière, tabled a bill to this effect on Friday, nearly three years after the death of Joyce Echaquan under racist insults from nursing staff at the Joliette hospital. .
Awaited for years, the bill “instituting the cultural safety approach within the health and social services network” was presented on the last day of the parliamentary session. It notes, from its preamble, that “Aboriginal people must be distinguished from other users since they form nations with a distinct history and culture”.
The legislative text responds to a recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry on Relations between Aboriginal Peoples and Certain Public Services in Quebec. This commission, set up after Aboriginal women in Val-d’Or denounced police abuse, had recommended enshrining the notion of cultural security in the Act respecting health services and social services.
Cultural security is used in particular to create reassuring and welcoming environments for Aboriginal people, many of whom experience racism and discrimination in the Quebec health care system, as demonstrated, among other things, by a survey by the Duty in 2021.
“Welcoming and inclusive” establishments
In order to “foster bonds of trust with Indigenous users”, the bill proposes that all health and social services establishments adopt “an approach of cultural safety towards Indigenous people”.
Clearly, it demands that establishments “promote partnership with Aboriginal peoples as well as effective communication with them”, that they be “welcoming[s] and inclusive[s] in their regard and that they adapt, “when possible, the offer of health and social services” by hiring Aboriginal personnel, for example, or by taking into account “the specific realities of Aboriginal women and girls” .
Currently, acts of discrimination and racism against Aboriginal patients remain difficult to document.
With his bill, Ian Lafrenière wants establishments to inform him, every year, of the reassuring practices they have put in place. If the bill is adopted as is, the Minister will also be responsible for distributing, annually, “a list of the practices implemented by the institutions during the previous fiscal year”.
The bill also provides for the relaxation of certain conditions of professional orders so that more Aboriginal people can participate in the evaluations provided for in the Youth Protection Act and the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Quebec would like these relaxations to allow more Aboriginal people to be involved in determining an intervention plan for people with mental disorders or at risk of suicide when they are housed in a rehabilitation center for troubled youth. adaptation.