March honours Joyce Echaquan 3 years after her death at Quebec hospital

The Manawan community is still reeling from the death of Joyce Echaquan in 2020.

It was a watershed moment for a community which often felt ignored and neglected by local health and services establishments in Joliette.

It also forced the Quebec government to take a position on systemic racism--a form of discrimination entrenched through generations of exclusion. To this day, the Atikamekw community is afraid to show up at the hospital.

"Many members of my community don't have trust in the hospital anymore," explains Sipi Flamand, the leader of the Atikamewk Council of Manawan. Still, he admits a lot of efforts are being put in place to make sure members of his community don't face racism and neglect again.

At the local Akamekw friendship centre, the community came together for a candlelight vigil around spiritual songs, and a message of hope for those who feel Echaquan should not have died in vain. The community launched a concept called the Joyce's principle—a demand to governments and health authorities to provide equal access to quality health care across Quebec.

"I think we're making progress," says Jennifer Petiquay-Dufresne, the Joyce's Principle director. "We built bridges. We got some professional orders on board."

But locally, most say things will not change as long as the government refuses to accept that systemic racism is a problem in Quebec.

"Quebecois don't understand yet our relationship with the Quebec government, Quebec society and about systemic racism because the government doesn't want to recognize it," says Sipi Flamand

Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafreniere was present for the vigil. He developed ties with the community. But so far, he remains loyal to his government's political decision. Roughly 100 people then marched from the friendship centre to the nearby hospital. Once again, asking for justice.