QUESTION PERIOD — Justice
Systemic Racism
October 1, 2020
Honourable senators, this question comes from many Canadians this week. I thank Senator Boyer for requesting I pose it to the Government Representative in the Senate in her absence.
Systemic racism continues to plague Canada’s health care system, costing the lives of too many Indigenous peoples. Brian Sinclair, Ina Matawapit, Tyson McKay and others died because their symptoms were not taken seriously or were mismanaged by health care professionals.
There is ample evidence to suggest that Canada’s health care system fails to adequately serve Indigenous populations because of systemic and individual acts of racism.
As Senators Miville-Dechêne and Mégie shared with us earlier today, Joyce Echaquan was a 37-year-old Atikamekw woman and a mother of seven. She suffered from heart problems for which she sought the help of the Joliette hospital. As she lay dying, desperately calling for help, she started recording a video which was live streamed on Facebook. The video recorded racial and misogynist taunts and slurs made by hospital staff. One of the nurses opined that Joyce would be better off dead.
This case explicitly demonstrates that racism exists in the Canadian health care system that means too many Indigenous peoples are treated as if they do not belong or as if they are a problem and undeserving of medical treatment.
While a full investigation of Joyce’s death is under way, there is no doubt that racism in the health care system continues to harm and kill Indigenous peoples throughout this country.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission called for the federal government to acknowledge the current state of Indigenous health in Canada and establish measurable goals to identify and close the gaps in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
In the Speech from the Throne, the government committed to working toward implementing these Calls to Action. The government has also pledged to address systemic racism.
So our question for the Government Representative is: What concrete actions, such as national guidelines and standards linked to health transfer dollars, has the federal government taken to address the crisis of systemic anti-Indigenous racism in Canada’s health care system?
Thank you for the question. There’s no one question and no one answer that could even begin to address the challenges and the tragedies and the deficiencies in our treatment of Indigenous peoples and in the health care system.
Allow me to at least begin on behalf of the government to express my condolences to the family of Joyce Echaquan and the people of Manawan during this terrible time.
Systemic racism in our health care system is a national problem and a national tragedy. The government acknowledges the reality that our institutions continue to fail Indigenous peoples in this regard.
The Government of Canada supports the decision of the Government of Quebec to act swiftly on this inquest. There has to be a timely and transparent investigation to provide answers on this traumatic event.
Beyond that — and you asked questions more broadly, and I’ve mentioned in the chamber before and I won’t shuffle through my papers to read numbers at you — the government has invested and continues to invest large sums of money in partnership with Indigenous communities to try to close the gap between the services available to Indigenous communities and those available to those who are more fortunate to have access to better.
If can I step out of my role for one second, I know the community of Manawan. I’ve worked with the students in the local school there on issues of systemic racism they were experiencing with their counterparts in the Joliette school. I’ve seen how they have risen in dignity and in pride through work that we’ve done in another life, in an organization I was privileged to chair called l’ENSEMBLE pour le respect de la diversité.
So our Indigenous communities are resilient. They’re strong. They need and deserve our help. This government is committed to doing what it can to help.
Thank you very much, Government Representative. Joliette, as you know, is also the location of a federal penitentiary for women where those with mental health issues have been illegally and forcibly injected, as was confirmed during the inquest into the death of Ashley Smith. Additionally, last month, Indigenous women’s representation rose to a whopping 44% in federal penitentiaries.
What concrete actions are the federal government taking to also address anti-Indigenous racism in our federal penitentiary system?
I also know that penitentiary in Joliette from another chapter in my life —
— as a member of the Parole Board of Canada, having been appointed by the previous government, to show my ecumenical aspirations, if not reputation.
Once again, this government recognizes and acknowledges that systemic racism has infected our legal institutions and our penal institutions and has taken a number of concrete steps, Senator Pate, as you know, and you’ve been instrumental in keeping these on the top of the agenda, and hats off to you.
This includes changing our laws so that our sentencing provisions better reflect the reality of Indigenous life and the challenges they face that bring them far too often into the system and result in them being incarcerated under circumstances where other Canadians might escape that. The overrepresentation cries out for action and the government is committed to continue to work on this. It is a serious and fundamentally important problem.
Senator McPhedran, you have 45 seconds for a question and answer.
