Visible Minorities

Visible minorities in Canada face disproportionate barriers to accessing essential healthcare and social support services. These include lack of access to affordable childcare, respite care, and primary health care services. These barriers contribute to systemic inequities and poorer health and wellness outcomes among racialized populations compared to the majority of the populations. These inequalities stem from a mix of socio-economic factors, direct experience of racism and systematic issues within the healthcare system. The following highlights relevant points to illustrate key barriers and impacts:

Health Service Utilization & Preventive Care

• Members of visible minorities are less likely than white populations to receive some preventive services such as cancer screenings (mammograms, Pap tests, prostate‐specific antigen tests), even after adjusting for socio-demographic factors.

• Although visible minorities have similar (or in some cases greater) contact with general practitioners compared to non‐racialized groups, they tend to use specialist care and hospital services less frequently.

• Greater difficulties accessing emergency services or urgent care during the pandemic compared to non-visible minority.

• Time and transportation costs: Long wait times for appointments and distant health facilities impose significant time and transportation costs. This disproportionately affects those with less schedule flexibility and lower income, who may have to take unpaid time off work to seek care.

• Limited culturally-sensitive options: Racialized families may lack access to respite services programs that integrate their cultural values, beliefs, and languages, which can be critical for appropriate cultural-responsive support.

• Mental Health, Long-Term, Palliative, and Supportive Care Gaps

  • Limited access to respite care for families of children and youth with special health care needs: financial stress, burnout, unemployment, and mental health strain due to navigating or sustaining respite services.

  • Inequities in palliative and end-of-life care for visible minorities; including limited understanding of available services and both negative and uneven experiences with care among racialized end-of-life patients.

  • Supportive living and senior care settings (e.g. in mainstream homes) often do not accommodate cultural, linguistic, or dietary needs of ethnocultural minority residents; leading to alienation and decreased satisfaction with those services.

• Childcare Access and Disparities

  • Financial constraints and poverty: Racialized and low-income families are disproportionately affected by the high cost of childcare. For many, the cost of licensed, center-based care is prohibitively expensive, even with subsidies. Some families face difficulties securing subsidies due to complex bureaucratic processes, while others may not qualify.

  • Childcare shortages and waitlists: A widespread lack of available childcare spaces affects all families but has a greater impact on racialized, low-income, and immigrant families. Often priorities are given to non-visible minorities.

  • Systemic racism and mistrust: Past and present experiences with systemic racism and discrimination can foster mistrust of government agencies and institutions, including those that operate or oversee childcare services.

  • Language and information access: Lack of information about available programs and difficulties with language comprehension can prevent immigrant and newcomer families from navigating the application and registration processes for childcare.

  Implications (Impacts)

  Barriers to affordable childcare, respite care, and primary healthcare services create a cycle of inequity for visible minorities. Limited access to these supports undermines both individual and community well-being, with the following impacts:

  1. Health Outcomes – Delayed or missed preventive and primary care leads to higher risk of chronic illness, poorer mental health, and avoidable hospitalizations.

  2. Family and Caregiver Stress – Lack of affordable childcare and respite services increases caregiver burnout, reduces quality of life, and heightens financial and emotional strain.

  3. Economic Participation – Parents and caregivers, especially women, are forced out of the workforce or limited to low-income, unstable jobs, perpetuating poverty and underemployment.

  4. Social Exclusion – Inadequate access to culturally appropriate care and programs deepens feelings of marginalization, reduces trust in systems, and limits the ability of visible minorities to fully benefit from social programs.

  5. Generational Impact – Children in families facing these barriers are more likely to experience poverty, poor health outcomes, and reduced educational opportunities, reinforcing intergenerational inequities.

Problem Statement