Sask. family speaks out after Indigenous woman shaved while medically incapacitated

WATCH: An Indigenous woman's family is preparing to launch a formal complain against the Saskatchewan Health Authority after her hair was cut without consent.

The family of Corina Morin says her rights were violated when her hair was cut without her permission while being treated at a Saskatoon hospital last month.

“We don’t want that to happen to anybody else, family or not,” Morin’s sister Mary Stewart said. “No one deserves that.”

Morin, a 54-year-old woman from Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, was transferred from Prince Albert’s Victoria Hospital to Royal University Hospital for a liver condition in June. Her daughter Summer Morin says she didn’t find out her mom was moved and her hair was cut until a day later. Morin later died in hospice care in July.

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Summer says her mother was traumatized by the loss of her hair.

“When my mom woke up, when I showed her how she looked, she said she was ugly,” Summer Morin said.

First Nations Health Ombudsperson Dianne Lafond says hair has a profound cultural and spiritual significance within First Nations communities. It not only serves as a symbol of personal identity, but a connection to family. Maintenance and grooming of hair reinforces a sense of belonging.

Her office says hair is seldom cut, except in moment of loss, trauma or life transition.

“I sit here today and stand with [them] in solidarity so that these things don’t happen again,” Lafond said. “They can’t happen again. They need to stop.”

The Saskatchewan Health Authority issued a memo to staff about a new policy at the beginning of the month. The Indigenous hair cutting policy aims to deliver spiritually and culturally responsive care by respecting Indigenous cultural traditions.

Staff cannot cut Indigenous patients’ hair unless they have consent from the patient, family or a person making decisions on the patient’s behalf.

The policy says hair should only be cut when medically necessary, such as brain or head surgery. The policy specifically mentions hair cutting not being required for treatment of lice.

On Tuesday, the family said they were given no reason why Morin’s hair was cut, but Stewart said she never resorted to cutting hair when treating lice after 30 years of being a foster parent.

“I never had to cut hair. I took care of it, I washed it, I cleaned it, I picked — that’s the normal way,” she said. “But you don’t go chopping some of these here just because you had a little bit of something that’s not supposed to be there. When children have that problem, the lice issue, they get sent home.”

Lafond said the policy was created in response to Morin’s treatment and her office’s involvement. She said SHA representatives told them about the policy, but only after it was created. Lafond feels she should have been part of the conversation.

“Our office was disrespected,” she said. “There’s just steps of inclusion that need to be respected when you talk about consultations, engagement protocols.”

Lafond says her office has filed just under 450 complaints since it was created less than two years ago. She says her office will continue to push for deep systemic change.

The Morin family and the First Nations Health Ombudsperson’s Office say they have not received a follow-up conversation or formal apology from the SHA.

But the SHA says it apologized directly to Morin following the incident and worked to provide personal and spiritual support. A critical incident review was initiated at the time to investigate what had occurred and identify needed actions.

The health authority also said work began on the policy in 2024, and was developed in consultation with the SHA’s Traditional Knowledge Keepers Advisory Council. The policy was also sent to Lafond’s office for feedback.

Lafond says these issues are not isolated, either.

Last August, Ruben St. Charles slipped at his home and broke his hip. The Métis man went to Royal University Hospital and was told hip surgery was needed. When he woke from his surgery, he soon realized his hair was cut off.

“This goes back to the days of colonialism and residential schools of cutting people’s hair, Lafond said. “It traumatized the late Corina in a very bad way.”

The SHA says 90 per cent of physicians and staff have completed mandatory cultural responsiveness training.