2025/06/21 by King, Regine, Rwigema, Marie-Jolie
#Ethnic Minority #Immigrant #Newcomer #Racialized #Visible Minority
paper · doi:10.11575/prism/48983
Background: The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has recognized that anti-Black racism is a significant determinant of mental health and well-being. While issues of housing and racism has been extensively discussed, the interactive effects of anti-Black racism, housing and mental health have not called enough attention. Methods: We used Group Concept Mapping methods to bring together a total of 174 stakeholders including community leaders, volunteers, and service providers to synthesize ideas of actions that need to be taken to promote the health and mental health of Black refugees in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta. The generated idea statements were further sorted and rated in order of importance and ideas seen in action (or implementation) by a group of 51 participants. Results: In this presentation, we will present the findings that emphasize the close connection between housing, anti-Black racism, and mental health. We found that when ranking which social determinants were most important in addressing the mental health of Black refugees in Canada, there were significant discrepancies between the perceptions of Black community members as compared to the perceptions of professional service providers. Specifically, community leaders and informal support persons with lived experience of anti-Black racism ranked housing as one of the most important and least addressed issues in terms of mental health equity for Black communities, while service providers ranked it as one of the least important and most addressed issue. Conclusion: Our presentation will discuss the relevance and implications of these discrepancies among stakeholders. Housing is a significant mental health and racial equity issue. Associated recommendations for policy makers and practitioners grounded in the needs and perspectives of Black newcomers living in Canada will be discussed.