The Black population has one of the highest rates of poverty and food bank usage in Canada and things are getting worse.
The term anti-Black racism was coined in Canada to describe the sum total of the social inequalities that the Black population lives with day in and day out, and the fact that as a country, we are not doing enough to deal with them.
The Black population is resilient and there are those who have managed to use adversity to move themselves forward. But they are more likely to be the exception rather than the rule. Studies show a predictable increased risk of some mental health problems in Black people in Canada. Decreasing the mental health problems linked to COVID-19 requires government policies that recognize the strain we are putting people under and the development of strategies to help those who predictably will struggle. Decreasing the mental health risks for the Black population requires us to recognize the impacts of anti-Black racism.
The recovery gives us an opportunity to start a new chapter in Canada. It could be a chapter where we give everyone an equal chance. To do that we have to decide whether we want to continue racial trauma in Canada or whether we think it is time for all of us to work together to build a better and fairer country.Dr. Kwame McKenzie is CEO of the Wellesley Institute, a research and policy institute that works to improve health and health equity in the Greater Toronto Area.
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