Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, [English translation not provided].
Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about a $1.1 billion class action lawsuit that was filed last month by former patients at Indian hospitals in Canada. These facilities were racially segregated general hospitals that were built between 1945 and 1981 to enhance policies of assimilation in order to replace traditional, Indigenous healing with western biomedicine. However, the Canadian government justified the construction of these facilities as a way to isolate the spread of tuberculosis and other diseases.
Mr. Speaker, these institutions were not hospitals. They were an extension of the residential school system and Sixties Scoop, as they admitted Indigenous adults and children alike who were taken from their communities and families and sent to these facilities. Once there, they were subjected to substandard medical care; medical experiences without patients' knowledge or consent; instances of sexual and physical abuse; constant denigration of their culture, language, and heritage; and overcrowded and understaffed facilities.
There were also many cases, Mr. Speaker, were Indigenous women were forced to undergo sterilization procedures, which was a colonial practice the federal government utilized as a way to limit and reduce the population of Indigenous peoples across Canada. Moreover, patients were routinely detained, isolated, and even restrained to their beds.
Mr. Speaker, my aunt worked in a hospital in Fort Resolution until she, herself, got sick. At one time, she escorted 29 TB patients from Fort Resolution to the hospital in Fort Smith because the 100bed hospital in Fort Resolution was full.
Mr. Speaker, I also had a friend who witnessed a TB patient from Behchoko or Fort Ray, as it was known at the time, that what was chained to a bed and was beaten by another TB patient.
Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I am told by elders that the government made a rule that, if treaty people did not have a clear xray, they wouldn't get their annual $5 payment.
Overall, Mr. Speaker, the people who were admitted to these hospitals were treated with the utmost disrespect. People from surrounding communities who passed away were buried without informing the families.
Mr. Speaker, there were dozens of these institutes across the country which admitted thousands of Indigenous peoples, including people here, in the NWT. In an article released last week in News/North, they listed 29 "Indian hospitals" that they reported existed in Canada. However, I was told by one of my constituents that two hospitals in the NWT were omitted from that list. Those facilities were St. Anne's Hospital in Fort Smith and St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Resolution. Marci cho, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.
