QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Health

Minister, thank you for joining us today. It’s good to see you here. I appreciate the opportunity to ask you questions about health equity and issues impacting Black, Indigenous, racialized and gender-diverse folks in the health care system.

We know, for example, that Black women in Canada face a higher preterm birth rate — almost 9% — compared to 5.9% for White women, and they face significant systemic barriers in prenatal care. I have heard heart-rending stories about Black women being denied pain medications during certain medical or surgical procedures because they were thought to be able to bear that pain.

What concrete actions are you taking as minister, beyond data collection, to address this stark inequality in maternal and other health procedural outcomes?

Thank you for your question, senator.

Yes, I am aware of this. I went to an Ottawa health summit, where I heard a lot about the challenges that Black women face in different ways in the health care system. Regarding what you spoke specifically about, it’s research. I think we need to have more research to ensure we know exactly what the health challenges are.

Also, we need training. What I find out when I am on the ground is the training part is missing. Most people just don’t know. They don’t know about some diseases affecting some populations. It could be the Black population. When I speak of sickle cell disease, for example, sometimes, nurses or doctors don’t know about it, and they have Black people who are coming to their practices.

I think training is a big part of it. It’s a conversation I’m having with my counterparts, as well as directly with organizations, like medical associations and nurses’ associations, to see how we can improve training.

Thank you for your response, minister. I was pleased to learn, in your recent statement during Black Mental Health Week, about the Promoting Health Equity: Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund. I commend you for this initiative that has long been called for.

Can you provide an update on what the government is doing to collect disaggregated data as it pertains to the mental health issues faced by Black men and boys and members of the Black 2SLGBTQIA+ community? This was an issue my late son Jay Williams focused on in his work and one I care deeply about.

Thank you, senator.

As you know, we have a bill here, the Connected Care for Canadians Bill, which is one that will allow us to collect better data. By relaxing rules for some providers, it will be easier to gather all data in the same way, because right now every province has its own data, and we cannot compare them.

Every province collects data in its own way. By passing this bill, we can try to move toward connected care and start collecting real data across the country —