New graduate program in Black health at U of T addresses 'a life-and-death matter,' creator says

Advocates say the launch of a new master's program in Black health at the University of Toronto is an exciting step in the right direction to make health care accessible and equitable to Black communities.

The program can help the next generation of health providers improve outcomes in Black communities that are still feeling the effects of centuries of racism, colonization and violence, says Roberta Timothy, an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the program's creator.

"It's a life-and-death matter for us," Timothy said.

"Training folks to not only do better, but to create safer spaces for us to seek health care, and to seek healing and wellness, is the main goal."

The program, which will run for two years for full-time students and four years for part-time, will welcome its first cohort of 10 students in person next year and will be taught by nine professors in the faculty.

Timothy believes this is the first program of its kind, but she hopes it doesn't stay that way. She and other advocates hope it inspires similar projects both locally and abroad because Black, Indigenous and other racialized groups were in need of better health care before the pandemic, and were hardest-hit during it. 

"We are doing this to create social change and social justice within our communities, and hopefully others," said Timothy.

Poor health in Black communities is the direct result of poor access to, and discrimination in, job and housing markets — as well as in the health-care, education, criminal justice, and social welfare systems, according to the federal government's 2020 snapshot on Black health.

The Black Health Alliance says these social determinants raise Black people's risk of getting chronic diseases such as diabetes. And without Black workers who are attuned to the nuances of Black health care, the problem only gets worse, the alliance states.

Black advocates have been calling for acknowledgement and change for decades.

But it was the public reckoning surrounding the murder of George Floyd in the United States, and Black people who died at the hands of GTA police services like D'Andre Campbell and Regis Korchinski-Paquet, that turned the tide in favour of change, says Angela Robertson, the executive director of the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre.

"That has, I think, forced institutions to take action," Robertson told CBC News.

The program is a show of support that affirms the experience of Black people, but she says it alone won't be enough to bring change without support and more Black-specific initiatives across institutions.

"There's a lot of work to be done."