THUNDER BAY – The inquest into the death of Ruthann Quequish concluded on Friday.
Quequish, 31, died of undiagnosed and untreated diabetic ketoacidosis on April 1, 2017, at her home in Kingfisher Lake First Nation after several visits to the local nursing station.
A news release issued by Nishnawbe Aski Nation said the three-week inquest heard from 22 witnesses including family members, health officials, and people directly involved in her case.
The jury also learned about the many issues and challenges faced by NAN members and the critical lack of adequate health services in remote communities, the release said.
Kingfisher Lake First Nation only sees physicians 60 days out of the year. Like many remote First Nations communities across NAN territory, people there are forced to rely on poorly equipped nursing stations that lack basic medicine and supplies, staffed by nurses with limited training.
The release said NAN leaders declared a health a state of emergency across NAN territory in 2016 because of the perpetual crisis and health-care inequities at the NAN community level.
Sol Mamakwa, Kiiwetinoong MPP, said it is unfortunate that they live in these conditions on a daily basis.
“It is not normal to see young people dying in our communities. It is not normal to see these needless deaths, this unnecessary suffering. It's not normal,” he said.
Mamakwa said this inquest described the way the system is soiled and broken.
“It's not by accident. I say that because that's the way the systems of colonialism, the systems of oppression are designed. They're working exactly the way they're designed to, which is to take away the rights of the people of the North.
“The calls for the recommendations the jury mentioned (are) calls to action in health care. That's the work that we need to be able to do. Going forward we should not be seeing young people like Ruthann at 31 years old dying in the communities.
“When you live it on a daily basis, you just begin to accept that's just the way things are, that this is normal. But it's not,” he said.
It takes an outside lens to understand these things are not normal, Mamakwa said.
NAN Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said this is a result of racism in the health-care system.
“You know that there is neglect. How many times did Ruthann go to the nursing station with the same condition with the same symptoms and was sent home?
“To me that speaks to just how racist this health-care system that we're still subject to is. It’s still rooted to the colonial and the racist policies that flow from the Indian Act that still is very much a part of our lives and the chronic underfunding that comes with it.
“That is the bottom line in terms of why Ruthann died and why so many of our people are still very much at risk today because of these policies that still very much exist in our in our communities,” he said.
Fiddler said when he heard the recommendations and found out that they were unable to determine why and how Ruthann died, it was a disappointment.
“Especially after you're sitting here for three weeks and listening to all the evidence, not just from the experts, but also from Ruthann’s own family.
“What happened to her in the days and the hours leading up to her death? We know why she died, how she died. She was not given the proper treatment that she needed when she needed it. And that's why she died,” Fiddler said.
Fiddler hopes Canada and Ontario pay attention to this.
“They need to renew that commitment that we need to dismantle these systems which still very much exist and administer our communities, that are racist and colonial in nature.
“We need to tear these systems down and rebuild new ones that are based on how we need to look after ourselves,” he said.
