Research Abstract:

Despite Canada’s reputation as a multicultural society, the country continues to be plagued by the issues of racism and lack of access to resources for Indigenous and racialized visible minority communities.

According to the 2016 Census, an estimated 1.2 million people identified as Black. In addition to resettlement challenges, racism and discrimination pose a hazard to the health of Black Canadians. Previous studies have suggested that Black people are particularly prone to a variety of risk factors associated with health and well-being. In general, Black Canadians report poorer health than their White and biracial counterparts.

Although there is a growing understanding of the need to address social determinants of health, the research on Black Canadians is still relatively scarce. Similarly, there is a lack of literature on the experiences of Black populations in the health sciences.

Thus, this presentation features the results of two studies that examined the experiences of Black Canadians. The first study utilized the life course perspective framework to explore the aging experiences of older adult immigrants of African descent and their lived experiences in constructing a sense of home in a different country. The second study highlights racial discrimination’s effect on Black Canadians’ mental health and determined the underlying processes and elements that contribute to this impact.