Joyce Echaquan

Joyce Echaquan was an Atikamekw woman from Manawan, Quebec, whose death in a Joliette hospital in 2020 drew national attention to anti-Indigenous racism in Canadian health care.

Joyce Echaquan was an Atikamekw woman from Manawan, Quebec, whose death in a Joliette hospital in 2020 drew national attention to anti-Indigenous racism in Canadian health care. A coroner later concluded that racism and prejudice contributed to her death, which was officially attributed to pulmonary edema.

Background

Joyce Echaquan was from the Atikamekw community of Manawan, Quebec, and was the mother of seven children. Reports describe her as being 37 years old at the time of her death in 2020.

Hospital death and video

Echaquan died shortly after recording and sharing video from a hospital in Joliette, where staff were heard insulting her and making assumptions about her condition. The incident was widely reported as an example of anti-Indigenous racism in health care.

Coroner’s findings

Quebec coroner Géhane Kamel concluded that the death was preventable and that racism and prejudice contributed to it. The report identified pulmonary edema as the cause of death while criticizing staff assumptions that Echaquan was experiencing drug withdrawal.

Public response and legacy

Her death prompted protests, legal action by her family, and renewed debate about systemic racism in Quebec institutions. It also helped inspire discussions around Joyce’s Principle, a framework for equitable and culturally safe health care for Indigenous peoples.