Addressing racism in health care a matter of life and death
This week’s edition of who is saying what about public health care is compiled by Pat Van Horne.
Let the healing begin, anti-racism isn’t about ‘political correctness’
“The voices of those harmed by systemic racism must guide this reform, not be sidelined by it. . . Indigenous patients who walked out of hospitals without care weren’t statistics when they left — they were people in pain who had already lost faith in a system that was supposed to help them. . . Addressing racism in health care is not a matter of political correctness, it is a matter of human dignity, respect and ultimately life and death. . . The diagnosis is clear. The harm is evident. Now the healing must begin,” according to an editorial, Winnipeg Free Press, June 24, 2025
Nurses need to be paid for essential anti-racism training
“We’re very firm in our collective agreement that any education that the employer expects is funded . . . Either you do it on a day where you’re at work, or you’re paid to go in and do it,” said Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, in the Winnipeg Free Press, June 17, 2025
System that includes refugees stronger than one that excludes them, says Healthcare for All campaign
“(Undocumented people) could be international students or could be farm workers who have fallen out of their status, or asylum seekers whose applications have been denied, or people who lost their immigration status for a variety of reasons and have just fallen through the cracks. . . Healthcare is being treated as a privilege and not a right,” said Sarah Shahid, organizer with the Decent Work and Health Network, Spring Magazine, June 4, 2025
Health care settings unwelcoming for Indigenous people
“Travelling all the way down south to have to take part in treatment and care, you are being removed from your language and culture,” said Kylie Aglukark, program director with addictions and trauma at Nunavut Tunngavik, treaty organization representing Inuit in Nunavut, CBC News, June 21, 2025
