Doctor gives First Nations child 'Greetings, Native Savages' sticker

A physician at the CampbelltonRegional Hospital handed out a "Greetings, Native Savages"sticker to a Listuguj First Nations child recently, prompting an outcry within the Listugujcommunity.

"This isunacceptable,insensitive and was very upsetting," said Listuguj Chief Scott Martin in a letter sent toGillesLanteigne, president and chief executive officer of theVitalitHealth Network.

"This level of insensitivity points to a dearth of cultural competency and cultural safety at your hospital," Martin said in the letter.

Martin wants to meet with Lanteigneover allegations of"disturbing storiesofdiscrimination and unprofessional behaviour" on the part of staff at theCampbellton Regional Hospital.

Martin said there have been other situationsthat point to "racist attitudes" of some hospital staff, including anincident witha receptionist at the hospitalwho allegedly said shewould not provide drugs to a band member who had cometo the hospital for treatment.

"[She] made disparaging remarks by insinuating the individual would abuse these drugs.

This isunacceptable.- Scott Martin, chief of the Listuguj First Nation

This person had no drug convictions or addictions whatsoever."

The chief could not be reached for comment, but Paul Stanley, CEO of the band, said people are angry about these incidents.

He said the sticker is racist and insulting and should not have happened in 2016.

"I thought Canada was way past all this typeof stuff, but apparently not," said Stanley.

"You would expect that when you have amulti-milliondollar billion dollar organization such as this,they'd have a much better screening system operating there," he said.

Stanley said the situation is part of a bigger problem of systemic racism experienced by First Nations people.

"They are treated in a disrespectful and racist manner and other practices within the hospital reinforce that point of view.It's not just about a sticker, it's not just about an apology. It's about what is it we can do to make this not appear again," Stanley said.

'We apologized'

Lanteignesaid he receivedthe letter from Martin this week and has spoken to the chief on the phone.

In terms of the alleged incident with a hospital staff member making inappropriate remarks about drugs, Lanteigne saidhe has asked the chief to provide more information.

As for the sticker incident, Lanteigne said the stickers were ordered in bulkand are from a Dreamworksmoviecalled Home. He said the doctor who handed out the sticker did not realize what was on it.

"The physician did call the mum, and the head nurse did call the mum twice, to explain that unfortunately we had bought these stickers without realizing what wasreallywritten on them and that it could be insulting," he said.

"We apologized, we even called the company. We retrieved all these stickers from all our sites," Lanteigne said, pointing out these stickers have been given out, in error, in other parts of the country.

"Arethese allegations founded andif they are well Icommitted we are going to do whatever it takes ... we just need a little bit more facts so we can look into the situation and take appropriate measures if they need to be taken."

Lanteignesaidhe looks forward to meetingwith the chief, though no date hasbeen set asyet.

When asked if he believes there is a problem with racism and discrimination at the Campbellton hospital, Lanteignesaid he believes the situation at the hospital "is considerably improved."

"We do have staff from that community that work here ... We provide a lot of services to that community, so for us, it's important that every patient, every client that comes in this door is respected and gets the best possible services."

Paul Stanley said he believes there is a problem but he also believes there's a solution.

"Alot of those solutions are tied up in better communications," he said.

"We have an anti-racist group thatcan do educational outreach ...it's aboutconversations that are open and frank."