Our History

 Over 140 community members and service

providers joined us at the Health, Access and
Racism Consultation in, 2007
 Annual Symposiums featuring expressive arts
Our members and allies as a tool for education, healing, and
receive advance notice communication Health and Racism
and exclusive invitations to  Body Mapping: Impacts of racism and sexism

our events. If you are

on our health
Working Group
 CAMH Building Equitable Partnerships
Interested in becoming a Symposium

member, please email  Marking the International Day for Elimination of

Racial Discrimination in Peel Region, 2009
healthandracism@gmail.com
 PhotoVoice Exhibit: Invisible Reality..Anger
for more information and Hurts

to receive a membership  Local lead, Colour of Change Network

form. In 2010-2011, we will be holding dialogues,

. workshops and forums on employment equity.
For information: equitymississauga@gmail.com

Health and Racism Working Group

Hosted by the East Mississauga CHC

In partnership with:
Community Members Health and Racism
Interim Place Working Group
Child Development and Resource Centre of Peel
Malton Neighbourhood Services Promoting health through equity
YMCA
Peel HIV/AIDS Network
Peel Public Health, Healthy Sexuality Program
Service Providers and Community
Promoting Health Through Equity

Web: www.healthandracism.blogspot.com
Email: healthandracism@gmail.com
 Why Health and Racism? What do we do about it? Did you know?
The Health and Racism Working Group Many studies, both in Canada and internationally,
Experiences and studies have shown that have documented the disproportionate health
focuses on:
racism and discrimination have negative affects burdens that racialized communities experience:
on our health mentally, physically and
 Systemic barriers to health care access
spiritually.
 Impact of racism on our mind & body health  Between 1980 and 2000, the poverty rate for
 Racial discrimination may limit a person’s  Intersections of gender and race racialized groups increased by 361%, while
basic rights to good employment, safe the poverty rate for non-racialized groups (i.e
housing, and education. of European heritage) decreased by 28%.
 Institutionalized racism impacts the quality
How do we do it? www.colourofpoverty.ca
of health care of racialized groups.  Anti-racism/anti-oppression professional
development for core group members  In a Women’s Health in Women’s Hands
 Racism as a form of social exclusion can study, respondents said that racist
impede access to health care services and  Anti-racist LGBT training & gender training experiences with the health-care system
health resources. was one of the reasons African Canadian
 Allying with like-minded groups in Peel women reported a reluctance to access
 Everyday racism is related to other
health services like HIV/AIDS treatment,
inter-linked social determinants of health,  Annual Symposium
education, and care. (Tharoa and Massaquoi,
such as; income inequality, poor housing,
 Annual expressive arts project 2001)
inadequate employment, malnutrition,
violence, etc.  Self-education and study; info and events
 Racism is stressful and compounds the list serv
feelings of hopelessness and
 Partnering with Colour of Change Network
powerlessness associated with other poor
socio-economic conditions.  Developing coping strategies and resilience
building community action Open House 2008: Body Mapping, Impacts of
CAMH Build- Sexism and Racism on our Health
 Promotion of neighbourhood approaches to
ing Equitable
equity  Though there are many low-income White
Partnerships
Symposium,
people, the significance of income as a
2009
determinant of health puts racialised groups
in a particularly vulnerable position as the
growing gap between the rich and poor is
Mississauga increasingly being defined along ethno-racial
Colour of Poverty lines (Galabuzi, 2001).
Workshop, 2008
 Michael Ornstein (2000) documents very high
r levels of poverty among several ethno-racial
PhotoVoice Exhibit, For more info, groups from Africa, South Asia and
- 2009: please visit Southeast Asia. Ethno-racial inequalities
www.healthandracism.blogspot.com found in the analysis do not derive from
Invisible Reality..Anger “essential” differences among cultures,
Hurts but reflect particular historical processes.