The politest form of racism: sexual and reproductive health and rights paradigm in Canada

Abstract

The Canadian national identity is often understood as what it is not; American. Inundation with American history, news, and culture around race and racism imbues Canadians with a false impression of egalitarianism, resulting in a lack of critical national reflection. While this is true in instances, the cruel reality of inequity, injustice and racism is rampant within the Canadian sexual and reproductive health and rights realm. Indeed, the inequitable health outcomes for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) are rooted in policy, research, health promotion and patient care. Built by colonial settlers, many of the systems currently in place have yet to embark on the necessary process of addressing the colonial, racist, and ableist structures perpetuating inequities in health outcomes. The mere fact that Canada sees itself as better than America in terms of race relations is an excuse to overlook its decades of racial and cultural discrimination against Indigenous and Black people. While this commentary may not be ground-breaking for BIPOC communities who have remained vocal about these issues at a grassroots level for decades, there exists a gap in the Canadian literature in exploring these difficult and often underlying dynamics of racism. In this commentary series, the authors aim to promote strategies addressing systemic racism and incorporating a reproductive justice framework in an attempt to reduce health inequities among Indigenous, Black and racialized communities in Canada.