Family wants answers after Indigenous man’s braids cut while in Edmonton hospital
Posted Dec 10, 2024 3:57 pm.
The family of an Indigenous man whose braids were cut and thrown away while he was staying in an Edmonton hospital want answers.
Dexter Adams, 84, was a patient at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital awaiting long-term care for his battle with dementia.
On May 6, his wife Eve visited Adams in hospital to braid his hair, as she’d done every morning. She was shocked to see his braids cut off without permission. They were sitting in a garbage on top of a soiled diaper.
The man’s eagle feather and some medicine were never recovered.
Dexter’s niece Kathleen Crowe says in the months that have followed the family has never received an explanation or an apology from hospital staff.
Crowe says the braids held a deep cultural meaning, and to have them cut off without her uncle’s consent was deeply harmful.
“It was the essence of his spirit,” Crowe told a news conference Tuesday. “It was who he was, and to have that cut off, it was a huge change in him.”
Crowe says the incident crushed her uncle and that his health deteriorated quickly after. Adams was transferred to long-term care, and he passed away five weeks after the haircut.
“After my uncle’s braids were cut off, it was as though he’d lost his spirit and his will to live,” Crowe said.
Alberta Health Services policy requires consent from the patient and family for haircuts, and tells CityNews in a statement there was no medical reasoning behind the haircut.
“This incident is deeply regrettable and should never have happened. AHS met with and apologized to the patient and their loved ones for the distress caused.
“Recognizing the deep spiritual connection many Indigenous peoples have to their hair, AHS is committed to ensuring staff understand its significance.”
AHS says officials held three in-person sessions on the cultural significance of hair for Indigenous peoples at the Royal Alexandra Hospital that were open to all employees, students and volunteers. AHS says mandatory Indigenous awareness training is ongoing.
