The Downsview community mourns the loss of Sharon Roberts who was a PSW for more than 24 years at the Downsview Long Term Care Centre whose life was lost to COVID-19. Downsview currently mourns this frontline hero.
The impacts of COVID-19 on racialized and disenfranchised communities have been well-documented. Professor Carl James at York University's Faculty of Education and Jean Augustine Chair recently partnered with Dr. Allen Upton, Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto and Endowed Chair at SickKids Hospital in a study which examines immunity to COVID-19. Together, they will work with President of the Jamaican Canadian Association, Adaoma Patterson, to collect race-based data and measure the impact of COVID-19 on Black people.
Associate Professor Vidya Shah at York University Faculty of Education provides an important snapshot about race-based data as a first step, however, that it ought to be used critically. Shah says, "Collecting identity-based data, esp. race-based data is a necessary tool to create equitable, anti-racist systems. But, it has also been used to justify eugenics, disproportionate surveillance, punishment, harm, etc. Race-based data w/o critical consciousness is dangerous."
Read the full story in the Downsview Advocate. The article was written by Faculty of Education alumna Janelle Brady (MEd 2015).