Abusive treatment of dying indigenous woman in Canada prompts outrage

'I have seven children who no longer have a mother,' husband says

A video of hospital staff insulting an indigenous woman before her death has sparked outrage in Canada.

Joyce Echaquan, who died two days after she checked into a hospital in Quebec, managed to capture the verbal abuse and livestream it to Facebook.

In the video, nurses can be heard calling Joyce “stupid as hell’ and suggesting the 37-year-old was only good for sex.  

The incident has sparked two investigations and outcry in Canada, where there are ongoing concerns over the treatment of indigenous people.

In June, a video showed Canadian police repeatedly punching a prominent indigenous leader during his arrest, which Canada’s prime minister called “shocking”.

Ms Echaquan, a mother-of-seven, checked into a hospital in Joliette in the province of Quebec on Saturday for stomach pains and died on Monday.

Her husband, Carol Dube, said she had a heart problem.  "I have seven children who no longer have a mother," he told Radio-Canada.

Quebec’s premier, Francois Legault, said he was “shocked by the racism" Ms Echaquan experienced during her stay and a nurse had been fired over the incident.

“This traumatic event is the worst expression of racism," Canada’s minister for indigenous services, Marc Miller, said.

"It is the heartbreaking portrait of a person in their most vulnerable state and who, while she was dying, heard racist remarks about her.”

He said it was “unfortunately not an isolated incident”.  

In 2019, a Quebec government report found systemic discrimination against indigenous people – who make up around 5 per cent of Canada’s population – when accessing public services.

Mr Legault, Quebec’s premier, said a provincial task force on racism would issue recommendations in the coming weeks.

Justice for Joyce'protests are planned in cities across the country in the coming days, including one in Montreal on Saturday that organizers estimate will draw over a thousand attendees.

Additional reporting by Reuters