Hospitals to collect race-based data

Starting in April, Manitoba will be the first Canadian province to collect race-based data from patients at hospitals, a government press release said today. Hospitals in Manitoba will collect and analyze racial, ethnic and Indigenous identity data that are essential for the measurement of health disparities that result from systemic racism, bias and discrimination, the release said.

The initiative is being led by Dr. Marcia Anderson, executive director, Indigenous academic affairs at Ongomiizwin, the Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba.

Patients will be asked to voluntarily declare their identity and to 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 will be collected as a routine part of patient registration at hospitals, including emergency departments across Manitoba.