There are several good reasons why medical schools would want to graduate physicians who reflect the diversity of Canada’s population. Studies show that patients tend to feel most comfortable with physicians who look or sound like them, who can communicate in their native languages, and/or who understand their cultural norms or religious practices. We know that institutional bias still exists in our medical system, and that Black, Indigenous and other racialized Canadians experience poorer health outcomes as a result. At worst, this bias manifests in extreme cases of medical neglect, such as that of Indigenous woman Joyce Echaquan, who was taunted by Quebec hospital staff as she writhed in pain, dying of pulmonary edema.
The Tower of Babel was not a success.
