An Indigenous mom from BC filed a human rights complaint after claiming she was involuntarily detained following childbirth.
According to a public release from the BC Human Rights Tribunal, the Indigenous woman, referred to as Mother E, was detained in a hospital for 18 days after giving birth to Baby E and experiencing psychiatric symptoms.
She was separated from the baby for the duration of that time.
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The names of everyone involved in the case, including the doctors, had their names anonymized in the report as part of a privacy agreement by both parties.
Mother E filed a human rights complaint about the circumstances of the detention and how it impacted her and her baby. She claims it amounts to discrimination based on race, ancestry, colour, mental disability, sex, family status, and Indigenous identity.
She claims that the detention and seclusion discriminated against her based on sex and family status because she couldn’t breastfeed and bond with the baby. She also alleges that the separation was traumatic for her as an Indigenous mother because of the “history of separating Indigenous children from their families, communities and culture.”
The doctors involved with Mother E’s claims suggested they didn’t need to be added as respondents to her submission. The tribunal disagreed based on public interest and for a timely complaint resolution.
Two complaints were filed previously on September 17, 2021, when Dr. A, the psychiatrist who treated the mother while she was detained, was named as a respondent.
On October 18, 2021, she asked the tribunal to remove Dr. A as a respondent and to only proceed against the Health Authority. In the most recent submission, she wanted Dr. A to be added back to the file.
The reason she provided for wanting Dr. A to be removed initially was because she was worried about circumstances where she would have to re-encounter him at the hospital.
One of the doctors, Dr. T, argued that there were no allegations against him in Mother E’s complaints, but the tribunal disagreed.
Mother E said Dr. T was the doctor who initially decided to detain her under the Mental Health Act and order her to be secluded for the first 24 hours.
The next development in this ongoing case is expected in mid-December.