We chat to Dr. OmiSoore Dryden, James R. Johnston Chair of Black Canadian Studies and Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Dr. Dryden discusses how the ongoing disproportionate impact of COVID-19 within Black communities is rooted in a larger Canadian conversation about racism and data that is often dismissed.

This interview is the first of a 2-part investigation on the lack of race-based data collection re:COVID19 here in Canada. We delve into why this lack of information is so dangerous and what barriers it presents to communicating vital information about the pandemic to vulnerable communities.

The Conversation Canada: https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-discriminates-against-black-lives-through-surveillance-policing-and-the-absence-of-health-data-135906

Recent estimates of COVID19 cases impacting Black individuals in the US and UK (*please read pre-prints with caution*):https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-racehttps://ehe.amfar.org/inequity?_ga=2.51214761.1618924293.1588715818-1730120696.1588715818https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.06.20092999v1.full.pdf *The Faculty of Medicine at McGill University was created in 1829