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home / 世界杯决赛2022

'it's really common:' sask. doctors share racism experiences in the industry

"sometimes we become so used to something that we don't even see it."

by lynn giesbrecht

nov 8 2021
read time 3 minute read
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a doctor being mistaken as a janitor based on the colour of their skin, patients assuming a doctor doesn’t know anything because of their accent, feeling an organization meant to represent their profession does not represent their diversity — all of these are experiences of saskatchewan physicians.
these stories were shared with around 150 people — mostly fellow physicians — during the saskatchewan medical association’s 2021 fall representative assembly held virtually on friday. university of saskatchewan edwards school of business lecturer lorelei nickel led a session titled racism in the profession: narratives from saskatchewan physicians.
nickel shared the stories of five anonymous physicians in the province, of whom two are indigenous and three are people of colour, and their experiences with racism.
after the main presentation, several listening physicians spoke up to share their own encounters with racism while doing their jobs, including dr. ebenezer adediji.
he was working in yorkton, getting into scrubs in the doctor’s changing room and making a quick phone call before going to help with a surgery.
“one of the third-year surgical residents came in and he just snapped at me. ‘why are you on your phone? why don’t you do your job? you’re supposed to clean the doctor’s office. that garbage wasn’t thrown out yesterday,'” adediji recalled.
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“i was livid. i felt violated that when a white man comes into the doctor’s changing room, the best thing that someone of colour could be is just to be a cleaner.”
nickel believes racism is an even more common experience for physicians than many of them realize.
“sometimes we become so used to something that we don’t even see it,” she said in a recent interview.
“i think it’s really common and i think that as we give people permission to share their stories and we learn about these stories, we’re gong to just see how common it is.”
lorelei nickel is a lecturer at the university of saskatchewan’s edwards school of business.
lorelei nickel is a lecturer at the university of saskatchewan’s edwards school of business. lorelei nickel / submitted
nickel stressed that no one person or group is responsible for racism as a whole and that using discussions of racism to create further divisions benefits no one. instead, she said the purpose of these discussions should be to create understanding and awareness in order to develop solutions.
she encouraged people just to listen when someone talks of their experiences with racism instead of trying to jump in with advice or an immediate solution.
just listening to the experiences of the physicians she spoke with as she gathered their stories to share at the virtual assembly had an impact on nickel.
“i was humbled by their strength and how you just keep getting up every day and facing that. it’s quite a testament to who they are as people,” she said.
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dr. eben strydom, president of the saskatchewan medical association, said it is important for all physicians to be aware of the racism their colleagues may be facing, even if they have personally never witnessed it.
he too believes racism is all too common in the profession and that steps need to be taken to combat it.
“these discussions make us look inward and understand where we are and what we can do better, not just as individuals, but also as an organization. and there’s a lot that we need to do better, and so we’re on a learning path here,” he said.
the physicians nickel spoke to made seven recommendations to the sma, which nickel laid out in her presentation. these included working to make the sma and its committees more diverse while combating tokenism; creating a way for physicians to report racist behaviour, both from colleagues and patients; and to provide more mentorship and integration supports for physicians coming from other locations.
strydom said the recommendations have been passed to the sma’s equity, diversity and inclusion committee, which will work through them before presenting their findings to the board.
lgiesbrecht@postmedia.com
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