Ethnicity, Race & Cultural Background
The question:
At the hub, when youth are provided the sociodemographic questionnaire the question they receive related to their ethnicity, race, and cultural background is:
| I would describe my ethnic or cultural background as (check all that apply): |
|---|
| o Asian - East (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean) o Asian - South (e.g. Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan) o Asian - South East (e.g. Malaysian, Filipino, Vietnamese) o Black-African (e.g. Ghanaian, Kenyan, Somali) o Black-Caribbean (e.g., Barbadian, Jamaican) o Black-North American (e.g., Canadian, American) o First Nations o Indian-Caribbean (e.g., Guyanese with origins in India) o Inuit o Latin American (e.g., Argentina, Chilean, Salvadoran) o Métis o Middle Eastern (e.g., Egypt, Iranian, Lebanese) o White –European (e.g. English, Italian, Portuguese, Russian) o White –North American (e.g. Canadian, American) o I do not want to say o Other |
Video:
Rationale for this question:
- Ongoing colonialism and systemic racism mean that a person’s race and ethnicity can have an independent effect on their health status, health care access and experiences and health outcomes. Tracking these disparities enables us to respond to them.
- At the client level, health care providers can use race and ethnicity information for things such as: understanding tests, discussing culturally relevant diets with pregnant clients, and much more in addition to looking at inequities.
- There are significant differences in health status between racialized groups and white Canadians even after controlling for gender, age, immigrant status, income, and educational attainment as a result of racism and colonialism.
Important Considerations:
- The best practice is to have youth self-identify their race. If they do not see a designation on the list that reflects their racial identity, youth can provide one in the space for “other”.
- Youth may be reluctant to identify racially for a variety of reasons. Research tells us that about one in four people are uncomfortable identifying their racial or ethnic background.
- Some may believe that race is a discredited concept and that refusal to speak in terms of race will help us to gain racial equality. Youth who do not experience racism and some youth who have been harmed by racism may also feel that race is irrelevant and may say that they “belong to the human race”. Staff can respond by saying that we know that certain groups in society are discriminated against because they are perceived to be different and that race is often the basis for this discrimination.
- When Indigenous worldviews are authentically incorporated into services for Indigenous youth, it can help to build better therapeutic relationships, improve treatment retention rates and outcomes, and help youth make meaningful changes.
Responding to youth asking why they are being asked this question:
Having this information can help us plan for appropriate cultural programming, staffing, training, and service provision.
