Unit 3: Confronting Systemic Anti-Black Racism in Canada
Week 7 – Day 1 – Racial Bias in the Canadian Health Care System
Content Warning
The readings assigned for this week of our course may be traumatizing for Black students. The readings include discussion and examples of experiences of anti-Black racism within Canada’s healthcare system. Please prioritize your personal well-being as you read these materials.
Required Material
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
El-Mowafi, Yalahow, A., Idriss-Wheeler, D., & Yaya, S. (2021). The politest form of racism: Sexual and reproductive health and rights paradigm in Canada. Reproductive Health, 18(1), 59–59. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-021-01117-8
The authors draw attention to the reality of inequity, injustice and racism that is present in Canadas’ sexual and reproductive health/rights. This discrimination present within the healthcare system is upheld through policy, research, health promotion and patient care, all areas in which black bodies are neglected. The authors further explain the central issues within each of the topics and how these affect change from happening. The health care system fails to take the step needed to address the racist structure that maintains these racial disparities. The authors aim to promote strategies for addressing systemic racism and reducing the inequities for racialized communities in Canada. Although this article focuses sexual and reproductive health within Canada the findings of the authors can be applied to the entire medical system.
Social Determinants and Health Inequities
Public Health Agency of Canada (2020). Social determinants and inequities in health for Black Canadians: A Snap shot. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/population-health/what-determines-health/social-determinants-inequities-black-canadians-snapshot.html
In this study published by public health Canada, the government acknowledges that anti-Black racism exists in several institutions. They highlight education, employment and housing as areas that facilitate this form of racism and discrimination and provide statistics on the impact they pose in the lives of Black Canadians. This institutional discrimination has direct implications for the health outcomes of Black communities that manifest as significant health disparities as compared to white Canadians. This study aims to give numerical figures and context to the barriers that Black Canadians must navigate to get their needs met.
Dismantling Systemic anti-Black Racism
OmiSoore Dryden and Onye Nnorom. (2021). Time to dismantle systemic anti-Black racism in medicine in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 193 (2) E55-E57 https://www.cmaj.ca/content/cmaj/193/2/E55.full.pdf
This article focuses on anti-Black racism that produces disparities for the Black community with respect to medical conditions and risk factors. These differences in health outcomes are not biological. Instead, realizing that they are a result of the discrimination and racism Black Canadian face at the hand of the health care system. This article aims to disrupt the anti-Black racism in Canadian medicine by highlighting the issue and the need for dialogue to effectively solve the problem.
Anti Black Racism is making us Sick TED Talk (2021)
Lydia-Joi Marshall. (2021). Anti-Black racism is making us sick. TEDxToronto.
In this talk, Lydia-Joi Marshall, the president of Black Health Alliance discusses how being black affects one’s experiences in the health care system. She focuses on the health disparities that exist for Black Canadians. From the way they are perceived by medical staff to how symptoms are understood, racial biases are present when they interact with the healthcare system. She also calls attention to the toll of racism that black health care providers face in the field. Emphasizing the internal negotiations that Black patients and Black health providers must have when they interact with the system to challenge the discrimination.
Optional Resources
- Elsie Amoako (2020) Mistreatment/Violence & Racism against Black Women during Childbirth in Canada.
- This piece is a call to action by a prominent maternal health organization in Toronto. In it, the CEO calls out the violence and mistreatment of black women during childbirth. She includes quits from several black women detailing the trauma they faced at the hands of medical professionals. This piece is to give personal accounts of the reality of obstetric care that lack women must endure within Canada and the racism that they faced at a time they were most vulnerable.
- Jeewan Chaninka (Jan 29, 2018) Marginalized People Face A Unique Mental Health Struggle
- This article focuses on the impact of racial trauma on children when it comes to the unique struggles racialized communities face with mental health. Mental health is spoken of as a neutral occurrence however, doing so fails to understand the impact of racism/discrimination and the impact on the mental health and well being of racialized communities. This article emphasizes a need for culturally competent care when it comes to racialized communities and mental health services to address the gap present in current services.
- Caitlin Dunne (2020) Black Women’s Health Matters
- Gabrielle Giroday (Nov 13, 2019) Lack of Health Data Hurting Black Canadians, Say Researchers
- This short news article brings to light the lack of comprehensive race-based data and the effect this has on tackling anti-Blackness in the healthcare system. Other nations like the U.S and the U.K collect race-based data on health however, Canada does not. Therefore, it is up to independent researchers to gather this type of information. The lack of data on a national level fails to give a full scope of the specific problems that are affecting the Black community when it comes to the health care they receive.
- Black Health Alliance, Health Commons Solutions Lab, Sinai Halth (2020) Black Experiences in Health Care Symposium: Bringing together community and health systems for improved health outcomes
- The authors review the lack of research, particularly in Canada, about Black women’s health, and some of the reasons why this may be so.
- Sinai Health System, Human Rights & Health Equity (2020) Black Experiences in Health Care Symposium Report
- The Black Experiences in Health Care Symposium report from the Black Health Alliance highlights how social determinants of health, anti-Black racism, and institutional practices in healthcare, disproportionately negatively impact Black communities. The report also advocates for race-based data collection in partnership with Black communities. They provide lived experiences within the healthcare system, as well as statistics.
