What is “Race-Based” Data and Why Do We Need It?
Article by: Alexandra Holtom, from Policy Press (http://policypress.ca/)
Read the full article here: https://policypress.ca/2020/05/28/what-is-race-based-data-and-why-do-we-need-it/
The COVID-19 crisis has reignited calls to collect race-based data. But what is “race-based” data, and why do we need it so desperately? And what are its potential implications for social policy?
Simply put, race-based data are socio-demographic data that help identity individuals and the communities they are a part of. Basic bottomline demographic data indicators include age and gender. Socio-demographic data includes factors such as race, ethnicity, language, socio-economic status, and living situation. These types of data can help us understand how these factors intersect with one another and impact the lived experiences of different people and groups in society. Right now, these data are particularly needed so we can analyze who is the most at-risk of COVID-19 infection and then try to prevent its transmission in the most vulnerable communities.
Last week, advocacy groups across the Greater Montréal Region renewed their calls for Québec’s Ministry of Public Health and the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) to start collecting and releasing data on race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), the Côte-des-Neiges Black Community Association (CDNBCA), and the Jamaican Association of Montréal (JAM) have been active in advocating for the collection of these data in Montréal, as well as across Québec and Canada.
Last year, an independent research report analyzing SPVM internal filings revealed that overt systemic bias is present in street checks done by SPVM police officers. The report found that racialized people (specifically Black and Indigenous people) are four to five times more likely to be stopped by the SPVM in comparison to other populations living in Montréal. The SPVM responded to this in October 2019 by promising to begin collecting and circulating race-based data regarding street checks by March 2020.
Yet despite this, we have seen no action to fulfill these promises even after advocacy groups reminded the SPVM of their commitment on April 30th, and then again on May 21st. Despite these renewed calls, there are still no policies in place to collect race-based data and no information has been made public by the SPVM. And meanwhile, the CRARR and other community groups in Montréal have been hearing anecdotal evidence that more minorities are being stopped by police and ticketed expensive fines for not respecting physical distancing rules.
On the provincial level, things were looking positive when on May 6th, Dr. Horacio Arruda announced that the Québec’s Public Health Ministry would begin collecting race-based data. But then on May 21st, public health officials back-peddled from his statement and stated they would not be collecting race-based data at this time, citing concerns over confidentiality, security, and the potential for the data to fuel discrimination.
At the federal level, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has said it is considering including race-based data in the information it collects regarding COVID-19. To date however, PHAC has not followed up with how this information will be collected and circulated.
In Montréal, preliminary results are showing that socio-demographic factors such as socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, employment, and the type of housing a person lives in are key factors in why certain people and communities are reporting much high rates of COVID-19 infection.
As of May 27th, the highest number of COVID-19 cases (2,287) can be found in Montréal North, one of the poorest urban areas in Canada. Montréal North also has a large racialized and immigrant population and the median household income was $42,548 in 2015 and 1 in 6 residents made less than $20,000 that same year.
The vast majority of researchers, academics, and advocates say that the benefits of collecting race-based data far outweigh the possibility of confidentiality breeches or the potential of fuelling discrimination. Instead, they argue that we need data about socio-economic status, race, and ethnicity to be collected and disseminated so we can know exactly how social policies are impacting citizens.
By understanding who is disproportionately affected, we can enact social policies that will serve to address the social and economic disparities between groups. This information helps us to create social policies that will provide targeted benefits, services, and programs to specific marginalized and disenfranchised groups. It should also go without saying that these data must be gathered in professional ways that take the utmost care in respecting confidentiality and honouring the inherent dignity and right to privacy of all human beings.
By not collecting these data, there is no way for us to know what is really happening on the ground. And if the general public is not informed, it allows for governments and law enforcement institutions to deny responsibility and continue enforcing policies and practices that disproportionately impact specific communities through systemic discrimination and profiling.
The Government of Québec and the SPVM’s inaction on collecting data on race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status gives the impression that officials do not want us to know how bad the problem might actually be. This lack of action and commitment puts into question the meanings of transparency, truth, and justice.
Refusing to collect these essential data perpetuates discrimination and reinforces the fundamental disparities and inequalities that are present in our society. This refusal disproportionately impacts impoverished communities, unhoused people, people with precarious migration status, racialized and immigrant communities, and Indigenous communities.
Data based on race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status are essential building blocks for social policy planning and implementation. By understanding who is disproportionately impacted by certain policies and and practices, we can begin to address the root causes of injustice and discrimination in our society.
The Government of Québec and the SPVM must respond to this renewed call with clear, robust, and sustainable policies to collect data regarding race, ethnicity, language, and socio-economic status. Ontario and Manitoba are providing solid examples for agreeing to collect these data in their public health institutions and it is long overdue that the province of Québec and the SPVM started doing the same.
