Manitoba hospitals to collect race data as of May 11

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This article was published 03/05/2023 (919 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba hospitals will become the first in Canada to collect data about patients’ race.

As of May 11, patients at hospitals and health centres will be asked during registration if they want to self-declare their race. The information is voluntary and patients can decline.

“During registration at a Manitoba hospital, patients will be asked to self-identify and choose from a list of Indigenous identities such as First Nations Status, Inuit or Métis, or other identities such as Black, Filipino, Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern or white. The information is protected in the same way as an individual’s personal health information. Self-declaring is voluntary and the information provided will not impact how care is provided,” Shared Health stated in a news release Wednesday.

The project, led by Dr. Marcia Anderson at Ongomiizwin, the Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, was announced in early February.

At the time, Anderson said she hoped the data collection would help dismantle systemic racism in health care.

— Staff