McMaster medical professor apologizes for Indigenous woman ‘joke’

The McMaster professor of medicine says he was responding to a question from the audience about the panel’s lack of diversity after the host explained two of the originally invited panellists weren’t able to attend.

Guyatt was one of two substitutes, making for an all-male panel of four, three of whom were white.

A video from the March 7 forum organized by the Canadian Labour Congress at LIUNA Station captures the remark in question. “I’m grateful to be here instead of an Indigenous woman,” Guyatt says, as chuckles can be heard in the audience.

“I’m sorry. I don’t understand that. What do you mean by that?” replies Halima Al-Hatimy, who’d asked the question, noting a slide during the forum referred to health-care barriers Indigenous women face.

“Poor joke. I apologize,” answers Guyatt, a specialist in internal medicine and distinguished professor in the departments of medicine and clinical epidemiology and biostatistics.

Al-Hatimy, director of health policy and evaluations for the Black Health Alliance in Toronto and McMaster public health graduate student on hiatus, fires back: “It’s actually very serious. I don’t know why you’re responding with humour. It’s not funny.”

In an email, Guyatt said he couldn’t recall his exact words but remembers what he was trying to say. “I was trying to communicate that I was grateful to be chosen as one of the substitutes (and thus get a chance to address the attendees) to fill in for someone who would have been ideally (for instance, an Aboriginal woman).”

Al-Hatimy told The Spectator she found the remark anti-Indigenous and sexist. “I gave Dr. Guyatt the opportunity to clarify what he meant and his response was ‘it was a bad joke,’ thus minimizing the weight of his remark.”

She argues the remark was in “no way misinterpreted,” but served to reinforce the point she tried to raise about discrimination and lack of diversity among academic institutions and decision makers.

Dawn Martin-Hill, chair of Indigenous Studies at McMaster, called the comment “insulting” and in “no way remotely seen as humour,” amid a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

The Canadian Labour Congress has apologized to Al-Hatimy on social media, and told The Spectator Guyatt’s comments were “completely unacceptable.”

The Hamilton forum was one of several town halls on pharmacare the Canadian Labour Congress is hosting across the country with experts and advocates weighing in on a national drug plan.

Al-Hatimy says she doesn’t buy the Canadian Labour Congress’ explanation for March 7 panel’s lack of diversity. “Excuses upon excuses. It’s always the case.”

Martin-Hill quesioned how the organizers could have overlooked a significant list of roster of Indigenous experts in the health field. “One must be intent on avoiding us to know Six Nations/McMaster likely have more MDs and Indigenous health researchers than any other 50 square kilometres in Canada.”

The lineup was supposed to include a female moderator, who wasn’t able to attend, Pither said. Moreover, speaker Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, had to cancel. Mehra sent Guyatt and Dr. Brian Hutchison, a McMaster professor emeritus, as replacements, Pither said.

Pither said the Hamilton event has been the exception among 10 other town halls, which have featured at least one female speaker and panellists from other “equity-seeking groups.”

tmoro@thespec.com

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