Delia Douglas
The measurement, classification, surveillance, and analysis of Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority communities in the service of white supremacy has a long history. While data collection involves achieving a balance between managing need and risk, it is clear that we are operating at a data deficit. The absence of data is a manifestation of systemic racism. In the absence of data, Black and racialized communities will be spoken for, our voices silenced, and racial inequities protected and sustained.
Marcia Anderson
My 2006-2007 masters of public health capstone project focused on developing a proposal to implement the collection of Racial/ ethnic/Indigenous identifiers in Canada because of a deeply held belief that without this we will never be able to close the gaps in health care quality and outcomes that occur by race and/ or Indigeneity. In its absence we create a health care space where we can pretend that color-blindness is good, that we serve everyone equally, and that none of us contribute to systemic racism in Canada. In reality, this further fuels racism because then we don’t examine the system design and actions that create unequal outcomes, and instead blame the people who experience them.
Marcia and Delia
Data collection provides invaluable information that can reveal patterns and guide solutions through resource allocation, quality improvement, and data-driven policy decisions, and participatory program planning. While this is not a new topic, the calls for data collection have certainly intensified over the past two years, as we witnessed the spread and disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority communities in Winnipeg, across Canada, and around the world.
Building on the data collection and governance in place to monitor and provide supports for First Nations, in May Manitoba 2020 became the first province to track the racial identities of Black, and racialized minority persons who tested positive for the virus. This data revealed how COVID-19 exacerbated existing inequities and provided invaluable information about the impact of the virus on members of Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority communities, demonstrating the profound inequities in terms of the social determinants of health, highlighting their vulnerabilities, and the urgent need for a targeted response.
In 2016 the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent visited Canada. Their report examined the history and legacy of systemic anti-Black racism. They identified that the lack of race-based data and research on the experiences of people of African descent, noting the need for disaggregated data to adequately address the diversity and complexity of Black identity and lived experience.
While there is no one approach that can be applied to all, creating race data collection standards and good data governance guidelines should be driven by researchers, social scientists, clinicians, and members from Black, Indigenous, and racialized minority communities and/or representative organizations. This approach will help address this systemic barrier that contributes to the economic inequality and health inequities that members of Black and racialized minority communities face across the country.
We invite readers to review the Key Considerations: Race, Ethnicity and Indigenous Identity Data Collection and Use (https://umanitoba.ca/health-sciences/sites/health-sciences/files/2022-11/Key%20considerations.pdf) as a starting point for considering your organizational/ team readiness to move forward with this work.
References
Black Health Equity Working Group. (2021). Engagement, governance, access, and protection (EGAP): A data governance framework for health data collected from Black communities. https://blackhealthequity.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Report_EGAP_framework.pdf
UN Report of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent on its mission to Canada. Available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/1304262.