The family of an Indigenous man whose wife found his hair braids missing when she went to visit him at an Edmonton hospital is calling for changes to improve the care received by Indigenous people in Canada’s health-care system.
“We’re often just looked at in a demeaning manner when accessing health care,” Kathleen Crowe told reporters at a news conference arranged by the Alberta NDP in Edmonton on Tuesday.
Crowe spoke about her late uncle Dexter Adams having his braids removed, saying his wife Eve was too upset to speak about it.
Brooks Arcand-Paul, Alberta’s Opposition critic for Indigenous relations, said the family told him that on May 6, Eve went to visit Dexter at the Royal Alexandra Hospital where Dexter had been staying since March, as she did regularly while he was staying there.
“Upon entering his room, she was horrified to see that her husband’s braids had been …