/ Sociodemographic data and data justice

City of Toronto Black Community Data Governance Framework

• Jemal Demeke, Brenda Roche and Kwame McKenzie
Consulting appointment between female doctor and Black woman in consulting office

In response to engagement with and advocacy by Black communities, the City of Toronto commissioned Wellesley Institute and the Black Health Alliance to advance the City’s commitment to using race-based data through the development of a Black community data governance framework.

This framework offers an overview of the various aspects to consider in establishing Black community data governance. At its core, this framework is driven by the imperative to establish trust with Black communities through genuine engagement.

It is authored by Jemal Demeke, Brenda Roche, PhD, and Dr. Kwame McKenzie from Wellesley Institute, Fiqir Worku and Paul Bailey from the Black Health Alliance, and Mercedes Sobers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

City of Toronto Black Community Data Governance FrameworkDownload the framework
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Jemal Demeke

Jemal Demeke

Jemal Demeke is a researcher at Wellesley Institute. He has consistently uses his community organizing experience to inform his public health research approaches. His research spans infectious disease epidemiology, implementation science, and equitable health interventions. African, Caribbean and Black communities have a continued presence in his professional focus. He has founded equity initiatives in large organizations, led workshops for healthcare providers, and built relationships between community stakeholders and health agencies. His work at Wellesley Institute leverages these experiences to inform policy change for racialized communities across Canada.

Brenda Roche

Brenda Roche

Dr. Brenda Roche is Director of Research at the Wellesley Institute. She was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Anthropology and Health at the Gender, Violence and Health Centre of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She comes with academic and community-based research experience exploring social and health issues in urban settings, including homelessness, sexual health, violence and psychological trauma and distress. Her doctorate, through the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, examined discourses on trauma that operate within the context of refugee resettlement, and how these influence health and social care practices for women (and their families) seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom.

Kwame McKenzie

Kwame McKenzie

Dr. Kwame McKenzie is CEO of Wellesley Institute, which works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the Greater Toronto Area. A practicing psychiatrist, he also holds positions as a full Professor at the University of Toronto and as the Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). As an international expert on the social causes of illness and the development of equitable social policy and health systems, Dr. McKenzie has advised health, housing, education and social services ministers in Canada and the U.K. and has authored more than 260 peer reviewed papers and six books. He is a member of the National Advisory Council on Poverty, and recently co-chaired Canada’s Expert Task Force on Substance Use. He has also worked as a consultant to the World Health Organization. Dr. McKenzie has been a columnist for The Guardian and The Times and a presenter for BBC Radio, and he is regularly published in the Toronto Star.