Racialized health-care workers claim systemic racism within Montreal health authority Bumba laments that more attention was paid to high rates of COVID-19 infection in Black communities than to the contribution of Black people in the health-care system.“When we look at the past, we see our ancestors had so many obstacles,” Bumba said in a recent interview, referring to colonialism and slavery. “But we also see that at a certain time, Black people did incredible things in health care, but we’re never recognized.”For Montrealer Jennifer Philogene, director of Quebec’s chapter for the Canadian Black Nurses Alliance, the high proportion of Black women in health care can be explained by culture.
Strong family bonds are an important part of Black communities, Philogene said, where altruism comes naturally.“I think it has to do with our values — to pay it forward and the glorification that comes with it,” Philogene said in a recent interview. “There is not one hospital in Quebec where there’s no Black person working now.”That work, however, comes at a price, she said, pointing to the impact of COVID-19 in Quebec’s Black communities.Montreal’s public health department in August 2020 published a research paper indicating the city’s Black population was among the most affected by COVID-19 during the pandemic’s first months.