Canadian healthcare institutions have rarely asked about the race or ethnicity of the people they serve. Contrary to popular belief, this is not because it’s illegal. Canadian institutions have simply been hesitant to openly discuss race and their role in racial discrimination.
But waves of change are underway. As many healthcare institutions have turned their attention to addressing the health effects of systemic racism, they have started to collect race-based data to address inequities.
This work is considered standard practice in other countries.
There are examples from states across the U.S. where race-based data was instrumental in identifying higher racial disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the data, state leaders made statements about needing racial equity in their interventions and allocating federal funding responsively.
In the United Kingdom, The Motherhood Group held a conference in March 2023 to highlight the findings of a national racial analysis that found Black women were four times more likely to face death during pregnancy and childbirth compared to white women. This activated government officials to propose increased research and funding to address these disparities.
Race-based data can clearly power national action on health inequities.
In Canada, some provinces have started to demonstrate great success in collecting race-based data.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario Health and Wellesley Institute used race-based data to reveal disparities across several COVID-19-related health outcomes. This groundbreaking effort led to calls for the collection of race-based data via provincial health cards as well as other equity-advancing public health responses. Ontario continues to see significant progress in community-driven efforts for collecting, using and governing race-based data.
In October 2022, Nova Scotia’s Department of Health and Wellness launched the Fair Care Project. They invited Nova Scotians to provide race-based data when updating their provincial health cards. The initiative has been remarkably successful, garnering more than 200,000 responses in the first 18 months.
In April 2023, Manitoba hospitals began requesting information on race, ethnicity and Indigenous identifiers during patient registration. Spearheaded by Ongomiizwin, the Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing at the University of Manitoba, this effort builds on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, where race-based data proved instrumental in setting vaccine eligibility criteria for Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities.
In June 2023, British Columbia introduced a provincial survey to collect demographic data from its residents. It was available in 15 languages. Their goal was to identify equity gaps across all provincial programs and services using the gathered data.
The next step to harnessing the full potential of race-based data for dismantling systemic racism and advancing health equity must be to create a national approach to how it is collected, used and governed.
Race-based data is more than just numbers and graphs. It is a tool that identifies and unravels the effects of racism. It adds weight to the stories shared by racialized communities about their lived experiences. While provincial initiatives contribute to the national picture, like a puzzle, the full image will remain unclear until all the pieces are put together.
With growing momentum across Canada, the time to create spaces for national collaboration around race-based data is now. It’s not just a nice-to-have, but a need-to-have. A coordinated approach will accelerate the shift towards a healthier, more equitable tomorrow for all.
Like many challenges in life, solutions come from working together.