Against Racism, For Health Equity: A Research Roundtable
The Canadian Health Coalition and the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics invite researchers to submit a proposal to give a 10-minute presentation on topics related to systemic racism in health care.
Systemic racism refers to historical, institutional, and cultural practices that reinforce racial inequities.
The presentations will be given at a research roundtable at the University of Ottawa on October 29, 2026.
Canada’s Medicare system is celebrated for being free and universal. The Canada Health Act is supposed to ensure residents have access to medically necessary hospital and physician services without financial barriers. The principle of anti-discrimination is guaranteed in human rights legislation across the country, in section 15 of the Canadian Charter, and in various international treaties. Yet, not every patient and health care worker is treated the same in Canada’s health care system.
This research roundtable will examine how racism affects people receiving health care and providing health care in Canada. It will also probe how racism affects people’s right to access health care in the country. While racial disparities have been documented in Canada’s health care system, inadequate attention has been paid to how systemic racism threatens promises of universal health coverage (Adejoke et al., 2025).
A Québec coroner’s report concluded that racism contributed to the 2020 hospital death of Joyce Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw woman. Indigenous and Black women in Canada continue to report being coerced or forced into sterilization in hospitals. Black women bear a disproportionate burden of global maternal mortality and morbidity rates. Limited research in Canada suggests similar racial disparities, but few health agencies and/or institutions in Canada collect racial data.
Temporary foreign workers and international students pay taxes but are often shut out of Medicare. Starting on May 1, refugees will have to pay to access certain essential health care services. Nell Toussaint and others die prematurely because they are denied timely access to health care due to their immigration status. Canada continues to ignore guidance from the UN Human Rights Committee to grant health care to all irregular migrants.
The roundtable will discuss systemic racism in Canada’s health care system and aim to advance public health care that is anti-racist, equitable and just. Topics could include but are not limited to:
- Racism as a social or structural determinant of health and health care
- Colonialism in health care or medical colonialism
- Intersectional racism in health care (how overlapping social identities such as race, gender, class, and sexuality combine to create unique discrimination and poorer health outcomes)
- Racism and sexual and reproductive health and rights
- Assessing the advances and shortcomings of Canada’s new public health care programs (Canadian Dental Care Plan and pharmacare) from a health equity perspective
- Racism and access to medicines
- Racism and mental health care
- Racism as experienced by patients and/or health care workers
- Culturally responsive health care, including in hospitals, long-term care facilities, etc.
- Alberta’s two-tier health care law and its impact on health and health care inequities
- The Canada Health Act and systemic racism
- The Jordan’s Principle and First Nation children’s access to health care
- The Joyce’s Principle and Indigenous people’s equitable access to health and social services without discrimination
- Pathways to ending systemic racism in health care
- Applications of a racial justice lens in health care activism
The research roundtable will be an opportunity to share promising practices and build partnerships across diverse disciplines and backgrounds.
Established and emerging scholars, members of the public service, graduate students, independent scholars, and union/community-based researchers are invited to submit a proposal.
To submit a proposal to present a paper, please submit a proposal.
Deadline for submissions: July 15, 2026.
Participants will be notified of the status of their proposal before July 31, 2026.
Registration fee: $100 for full-time faculty and those with institutional/organizational support. $50 for contract faculty, those without institutional /organizational support. Limited participation subsidies are available for participants who need support.
A conference registration form for presenters and audience members will follow.
For more information, contact Tracy Glynn at tglynn@healthcoalition.ca.
The Canadian Health Coalition was founded in 1979 and comprises frontline health care workers’ unions, community groups, students, and public health experts. The Canadian Health Coalition believes that health care in Canada is a fundamental right without distinction of race, gender, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, political belief, immigration status, and economic or social condition. We defend this right and ensure that the following principles shape the direction of health care in Canada.
The University of Ottawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics (CHLPE) is Canada’s largest, and a globally recognized, interdisciplinary hub for health research. Based in Ottawa, it brings together faculty and students from law, medicine, social sciences, and more to inform policy and legal strategies on health issues.
