Montreal rally honours Joyce Echaquan on 4th anniversary of her death
CTV
A commemorative rally marking the fourth anniversary of Joyce Echaquan’s death will take place in Ville-Marie on Saturday afternoon.
More than a hundred people gathered in Montreal on Saturday afternoon to mark the fourth anniversary of Joyce Echaquan's death.
Echaquan, a mother of seven from the Atikamekw community of Manawan, died on Sept. 28, 2020, shortly after livestreaming racist remarks made by healthcare workers at a Joliette hospital.
The footage sparked outrage across the country, leading to the firing of two healthcare workers – an orderly and a nurse – following her death.
The rally, organized by the Caring for Social Justice Collective at Place du Canada, paid tribute to Echaquan and acknowledged her "collective legacy" in bringing to light the harsh realities Indigenous people face, according to the group.
"The rally not only denounced the injustice and inequalities still suffered by Indigenous peoples to this day, but also demonstrated the ostensible societal solidarity that continues to grow," the collective said in a press release.
A 2021 coroner report by Géhane Kamel found that the racism and prejudice Echaquan faced contributed to her death, which was declared accidental.
In response to her death, Indigenous groups introduced Joyce's Principle, which aims to guarantee all Indigenous people the right to equitable treatment in the province's health care system.
