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Joyce Echaquan’s community fights for change to health system three years after death
MONTREAL — It has been three years since Joyce Echaquan died in hospital after filming staff insulting her, but for her family and her First Nation, the fight continues to ensure a legacy of better treatment for Indigenous people.
In July, her Atikamekw community officially launched the Joyce’s Principle office, which aims to lobby for the adoption of a document that community members presented to the Quebec and Canadian governments after Echaquan’s death on Sept. 28, 2020.
Joyce’s Principle “aims to guarantee to all Indigenous people the right of equitable access, without any discrimination, to all social and health services, as well as the right to enjoy the best possible physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.”
It includes a statement by Echaquan’s husband, Carol Dubé, who asks that his wife’s voice “be the beginning of real change for all Indigenous people so no one ever again falls victim to systemic racism.”