The video conference interview was about to end on Monday night when I asked Carol Dubé how he was doing after two years of mourning. He stopped. “Nothing has changed in two years. Nothing has changed… ”
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He paused, unable to say more. He swung his chair around to cry. After a while he came back to the camera and said to me softly, his eyes full of tears: “It still hurts me very, very much. I feel the same way I did when I saw her in the video…”
He’s talking to me about Joyce Echaquan, of course. The love of his life, the mother of his seven children whom he watched die live on Facebook September 28, 2020.
Like a recurring nightmare, the gruesome scenes play out in his head over and over again. Joyce dies, littered with racial slurs. Joyce fights, screams, screams for help. And him in front of his screen, feeling helpless. Terribly helpless.
Carol Dubé is a broken man. Hearing François Legault at the leaders’ debate on Thursday night that “the problem that happened to Ms Joyce at the Joliette hospital is now resolved,” he felt as if he was falling into the void without a parachute.
“In Joliette, [le problème] is employed! I just spoke to her husband. It is settled! “, emphasized the Prime Minister in front of 1.5 million viewers.
Paralyzed in front of her screen, Carol Dubé felt helpless. Terribly helpless. Once again.
Two years he hopes to meet François Legault. Two years of hitting a wall. Despite the scale of the scandal, the prime minister has never requested an official meeting with Joyce Echaquan’s wife. Never, in two years.
“It was in the plans, Mr Legault’s spokesman wrote to me, but because of the pandemic, the right moment never presented itself. »
Mr. Legault met Mr. Dubé during Pope Francis’ visit to Quebec. The two men talked for less than a minute. How are you ? How are the children? By the way, Mr. Dubé, do you think there have been improvements at Joliette Hospital since Atikamekw was appointed to the board?
Carol Dubé politely replied yes.
He never said the problem was solved. Because he wasn’t.
We still receive many complaints about the hospital. Even I’m afraid to go there. I’m waiting for an operation and I’m afraid to leave.
Carol Dube
There is no doubt that after the death of Joyce Echaquan, the CIUSSS de Lanaudière worked hard to restore the bridges to the Atikamekw community.
Specifically, we hired Atikamekw liaison officers at the hospital. Staff were forced to undergo Aboriginal reality training.
These initiatives were welcome and necessary. But they didn’t magically make prejudice disappear. Don’t distrust either. There are still people from Atikamekw who are reluctant to seek treatment. Because they are afraid.
Two years that Carol Dubé is somehow trying to rebuild. And now François Legault announces on TV that everything is fine, it’s done! The husband said so! Walk on, nothing to see…
Mr Dubé is angry with him for putting words in his mouth. Since the death of his wife, he no longer has the strength to make too many waves. For this reason, he believes, Mr. Legault has allowed himself to speak for him.
He took advantage of my silence. I needed this stillness to heal myself, to heal my children and my community.
Carol Dube
The family man wants an apology.
A good time to introduce her would be September 28, during a memorial service for Joyce Echaquan. Mr. Dubé also invites Mr. Legault “with sympathy” to Manawan to attend the commemoration.
That’s good: Mr Legault’s spokesman wrote me that he wanted to meet Mr Dubé “soon”.
For the apologies, but it’s a bad start.
In the cacophonous chaos of a television debate, one can understand a leader making one mistake, and even two or three. Subsequently, this leader usually tries to correct the situation. But on Saturday, two days after the debate, François Legault gave more of a shift.
Far from expressing his regrets, he accused the Atikamekw of not wanting to solve the problems of racism of which they are victims…
“You want to get back to the issue of systemic racism,” Mr Legault said. So you want to debate on words instead of making sure that the problems are solved on the ground. »
Carol Dubé doesn’t move: we have to name the evil in order to fight it better. We must adopt the Joyce Principle, which aims to ensure fair access to health care for Aboriginal people throughout Quebec.
But Mr Legault opposes this as it would force him to acknowledge systemic racism, a concept that resonates badly with a large segment of his electorate.
PHOTO BY SHIRLEY TOLLEY’S FACEBOOK ACCOUNT
Joyce Echaquan
For Carol Dubé, this is not just a semantic debate. These words “systemic racism” are not just a more or less hermetic theoretical concept. “Those are facts. This is the reality that Joyce lived and that other Aboriginal people still live. »
Those words are the reason why he lost the woman he loved. And why this loss remains so painful. “Mr Legault has reopened a wound that has not yet healed. Before I end the interview, I ask him if he has one last message for the Prime Minister. He takes his time to think. “I ask him not to use my silence anymore. »