(excerpt from the Minister of Health)
Every February, people in Canada are invited to take part in Black History Month to honour, celebrate, and learn about the contributions of Black Canadians and their communities.
For hundreds of years—even before Canada became a country—Black communities have made important contributions to our social fabric and to building the country that we know today.
Individual names stand out: Viola Desmond, the Honourable Lincoln Alexander, and Portia White, to name just a few. We must also acknowledge all Black Canadians who have helped pave the way in our healthcare system, including Dr. Anderson Ruffin Abbott, first Canadian-born Black doctor and Bernice Redmon, the first Black nurse to practice in Canada's public health system.
As the pandemic has further amplified, anti-Black racism continues to drive health inequities in Canada. This type of racism, rooted in an unjust distribution of power, resources, and opportunities that discriminate against Black communities, continues to fuel poor health outcomes for racialized Canadians.
We also know that discrimination against Black communities is deeply entrenched and normalized in our institutions, policies, and practices and is often invisible to those who do not feel its effects. This must change and we must and will do better.
We have a lot of work to do here at Nucleus to address anti-black racism. I look forward to relaunching our Staff Experience Council whose main mandate will be to identify, address and improve barriers towards achieving equity for our staff and clients. If you want to know more about this work or have ideas for how we can improve, e-mail info@nucleusonline.ca
