ReviewJournal of primary care & community health
Systemic Racism in Canadian Healthcare: A Policy and Equity Analysis.
Review in Journal of primary care & community health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Interrogating Structural Racism When Doing Health Research in Canada: Using the Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) as a Guiding Framework.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2026Article
- Integrating Critical Racial Literacy to Advance Health Equity Among African, Caribbean, and Black Populations in High-Income Countries: Protocol for a Scoping Review.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Denialism: repudiation of anti-Indigenous racism in healthcare in Canada.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Canadian healthcare, systemic racism subverts commitment to universal coverage by building inequities into the system of governance, regulation, and clinical practice. Although racial disparities have been documented, little attention has been paid to how institutional structures perpetuate these inequities.
objectiveThis study critically examines the organizational aspects of racism in the Canadian healthcare system. It aims to identify structural obstacles faced by racialized patients and foreign-trained physicians and to provide policy recommendations grounded in evidence.
methodsThe authors employed a narrative review framework for qualitative analysis of documents. Public inquiries (eg, Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Viens Report), government audits (eg, PHAC and CHRC), case files (eg, Brian Sinclair, Joyce Echaquan, and Dr. Akinbiyi), and peer-reviewed publications between 2000 and 2024 were the data sources. Thematic coding occurs across 4 areas: (1) institutional discrimination, (2) licensing and workforce exclusion, (3) patient and cultural safety, and (4) accountability gaps.
resultsThe review found continuing institutional disregard for Indigenous and Black patients, and the disparities were most marked in emergency and maternal services. Internationally educated doctors face opaque and delayed credentialing procedures, which can exacerbate workforce disparities. Case examples illustrate how system failures, including disregarding patient suffering, ignoring cultural requirements, and inadequate oversight, can lead to harm. It is a recurring pattern in which the recommended action is not taken following a review, suggesting organizational resistance to change. DISCUSSION: Canadian systemic racism in health care occurs through omissions (failure to act on reform) and commissions (institutional exclusion). To tackle this, it is necessary to entrench antiracism in legislation, make cultural safety training a requirement, collect race-disaggregated data, and transform licensing routes.
conclusionUniversal healthcare is not equitable unless systemic racism is eliminated. Systemic changes that recalibrate healthcare governance in accordance with antiracism and equity values are necessary to provide safe and inclusive care.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.