Racism is a health issue. Differences in health among people of colour and Aboriginal people compared with white people, do not result from biological or genetic factors but from social, political and economic inequities.

Those on the receiving end of racism face:

• Higher risk of depression and suicide
• Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, fear, mistrust, despair, alienation, and loss of control
• Damaged self-esteem, higher risk of addictions and violence
• Higher stress and more stress-related illnesses such as high blood pressure, heart disease and problems of the nervous system
• Poorer general health and depressed immune systems
• Shorter life span
• Higher infant death rates
• Unemployment, underemployment, lower wages and unsafe working conditions
• Limited access to jobs, housing, education and the services we need to be healthy.

We must also take into account:

• Growing population: Metropolitan Toronto has the second largest urban Aboriginal population, and people of colour will be half the total population by the year 2000. (This is not merely a Toronto or urban issue. Aboriginal people and people of colour live throughout the province and the country, and are 85% of the world's population.)

• Using Services: Most services and programs are Eurocentric, so that communities of colour and Aboriginals do not use them. Yet First Nations and people of colour need these services and pay for them through taxes the same as everyone else.

• Increased Costs: Failure properly to diagnose, assess and serve First Nations and people of colour can drive up health care costs through
  • repeat visits to care facilities and unnecessary hospitalization.
  • Workplace costs include low morale, reduced productivity, high staff turnover, time lost at work, poor public relations
  • Consumer boycotts
  • Expensive human rights settlements.
  • This is money that could go to direct service.

• The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code provide the framework for addressing racism in the health and mental health sectors.

• Anti-racism strategies need to be integrated into health policy, for equitable allocation of resources.

• Health strategies in Aboriginal and communities of colour should focus on self-determination, community development and providing culturally appropriate services.

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