KANESATAKE – A Mohawk and his wife filed a human rights complaint against a hospital in the Laurentians region after the old man was reportedly taken out of the facility, scantily clad.
Winston Nelson, 71, was hospitalized at Saint-Eustache hospital, north of Montreal, on December 30 with heart problems.
Mr Nelson’s wife, Cheryl Scott, says she sent a cab to pick him up on January 5, when the man was only wearing a hospital gown and a soiled diaper when he arrived home.
“It broke my heart because he’s the only one I have here with me,” Cheryl Scott said at a virtual press conference.
The couple, from Kanesatake, west of Montreal, told reporters Thursday that they had mandated a civil rights group to bring the case on their behalf to the Quebec Human Rights Commission.
They allege hospital is guilty of systemic racism
Fo Niemi, director general of the Center for Action Research on Race Relations, said Thursday at the same press conference that he saw a disturbing pattern of hospitals in Quebec mistreating members of Indigenous communities.
He clarified that his organization does not often receive requests from indigenous people who want to file complaints of racism against public institutions.
“It aims to encourage indigenous peoples facing racism in health and social care centers to take action,” Fo Niemi said of the complaint.
The couple said that on another occasion, they saw nurses at the hospital imitating stereotypical Indigenous war songs.
Representatives from the Saint-Eustache Hospital said Thursday that an internal investigation concluded that the mistreatment of Winston Nelson was the result of “inexperience” among staff present that day, and no discrimination.
“It turned out that the support offered in this situation was not adequate and lacked sensitivity,” said Dominique Gauthier, spokesperson for the regional health authority, in an email. “An apology was also offered to the family.”
Winston Nelson’s wife said she didn’t understand what had happened, noting that it only took a few minutes to get someone dressed.
“I faced the racism of the hospital when they called my Mohawk husband a dog, a dumbass,” said Cheryl Scott. “They didn’t clean his sheet, they left him in his pee and poo for hours. No native, human, no one deserves this treatment from a hospital ”.
This is not the first time that the Saint-Eustache hospital has been accused of systemic racism. The regional health authority opened an investigation last March following reports of a job offer reserved for white women.
“Same hospital, same people,” Cheryl Scott said.
A spokesperson said at the time that the job posting was exceptional and related to a dementia patient who was disruptive in the presence of racialized staff.
Last September, an Indigenous woman named Joyce Echaquan filmed herself being abused by healthcare workers while she was dying in a hospital in Joliette, northeast of Montreal. A coroner is investigating the circumstances of his death.
“We need a systemic investigation and the human rights commission has the power to do it,” Fo Niemi said.
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