Discussions

During SARS, I was frustrated with a patient who didn't tell the truth to the triage nurse at the door and endangered herself, myself and all those in the clinic at that time. I tried to understand her fears and even kept in touch with her for the next few weeks to make sure she got better.

The goal here is not to admonish Canada’s most revered medical organizations, but rather to illustrate the historic and longstanding dearth of Black representation in Canadian medical leadership. Over the past few years, calls to address barriers to achieving diversity in the Canadian health workforce have been gaining momentum. Diversity exists along a broad spectrum that includes gender, socioeconomic, linguistic, and racial subsets, to mention a few. Acknowledging that there exist many populations that are also underrepresented in the highest echelons of Canadian medical leadership, this article speaks specifically to the paucity of Black Canadians in formal physician leadership roles while proposing four key recommendations for addressing this diversity gap.