Chiefs decry health system racism, voice support for Indigenous man’s lawsuit alleging diagnosis by stereotype

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/01/2025 (288 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba chiefs relayed their support for an Indigenous man suing health officials at a press conference Tuesday, criticizing his treatment as an example of racism in the province’s health-care system.

Legal representation for Justin Flett, a Tataskweyak Cree Nation man who lives in Winnipeg, filed a lawsuit Dec. 19 alleging his appendicitis was misdiagnosed as a hangover at a hospital in The Pas in 2023, forcing him to take an 11 1/2 hour bus ride to Winnipeg. He claims his appendix burst while he waited for care, leaving him with ongoing health problems.

As previously reported in the Free Press, the lawsuit alleges that his mistreatment was at least partially due to racist stereotypes about Indigenous people that led to an assumption he was intoxicated.

At a press conference Tuesday, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs acting grand chief Betsy Kennedy said many of their members with serious medical issues have experienced being “given Tylenol and (told) to go home” because of those stereotypes.

“This experience is a grim reminder of the systemic racism and inequalities our people continue to face in accessing health care in this province,” she said.

The lawsuit names the Northern Regional Health Authority, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and a doctor at St. Anthony’s General Hospital in The Pas as defendants. None have filed a statement of defence.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak grand chief Garrison Settee called the situation an issue his membership had “been dealing with in our North for a very long time.”

“We are in a position now to start moving forward confronting a system that is discriminatory, it’s prejudiced against Indigenous people,” he said. “And we continue to bring these issues to governments and still our calls and our priorities remain unheard. So what recourse do we have?”

Flett was in attendance Tuesday, but did not speak. One of his lawyers, Vilko Zbogar, read aloud from a letter Flett wrote outlining his experiences.

“I don’t think that what happened to me was right,” he read.

“The doctor in The Pas should have taken me seriously and properly diagnosed and treated me, not assumed that I was hungover… I know my case is not unique, I hear stories like this all the time, but I want to do something about it, because it shouldn’t be happening.”

Zbogar, a Toronto-based lawyer, represented the family of Brian Sinclair, a wheelchair-bound Indigenous man who sought medical help at Health Sciences Centre in 2008 and died after 34 hours in the emergency department waiting room.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca