An association that represents Nigerian-Canadian doctors in Canada has called for Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro to reject a report which deduced that a noose taped to a Grande Prairie hospital operating room door by a white surgeon —partly aimed in at a Black colleague — was not racially motivated.
In a recent letter to the Health Minister, Dr. Adeyemi Laosebikan, the President of the Canadian Association of Nigerian Physicians and Dentists wrote: “It requires a disturbing level of denial to give an interpretation other than grievous harm and death to a noose symbol.”
Laosebikan revealed that the report conveys the message to Black health professionals “that there will be little or no protection for them against such aggressors”.
Laosebikan said: “To future perpetrators of similar acts, the message is that they can expect to get away with a trivial apology. To the increasingly diverse public, this erodes confidence in the quality of care they may receive.”
The report was ordered by Shandro in July 2020 after CBC News revealed the noose incident, which happened at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in 2016.
The act was reported to authorities of the hospital shortly after it occurred and a minimum of three doctors have reported over the next four years to Alberta Health Services (AHS), the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta and Shandro.
The association’s letter corroborates the opinion of experts in racism and systemic discrimination who disclosed that consultant Donna Neumann’s report swept clear evidence of blatant racism under the carpet.
Dana Campbell-Stevens, a lawyer with Rubin Thomlinson, a law firm in Toronto that specializes in workplace investigations, including systemic discrimination and harassment said: “This is a situation where an instance of anti-Black racism was missed; it was missed by everyone.”
