(Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaʔɬ/sel̓ílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C.) — The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) is dismayed with the circumstances surrounding the investigation announced this morning by Health Minister Adrian Dix, specifically related to a “game” to guess the intoxication level of Indigenous and other Emergency Room (ER) patients.
We commend Minister Dix for taking immediate action by appointing Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond to undertake a comprehensive investigation into these appalling and racist activities and to make clear recommendations. The investigation must be transparent and seek to uncover the extensiveness of this abhorrent behavior, including which doctors and hospitals are involved and whether similar repulsive behavior occurred with other minority groups. We fully expect that those who committed these serious breaches of trust will be held accountable for their actions and, pending the outcomes of the investigation, have their medical licenses revoked for compromising the dignity, care and lives of Indigenous patients.