As racial and linguistic minorities, English-speaking Black Quebecers face more barriers to receiving mental healthcare 

Black anglophones in Quebec experience more discrimination and report more barriers to mental healthcare – and overall lower mental health – than their French-speaking counterparts, according to a new study from McGill University researchers in the Department of Psychology.

The researchers, who were curious about the experience of being both a racial and linguistic minority in the province collaborated with the Black Community Resource Centre (BCRC) to survey Black Quebecers from across the province about the experience of being both a racial and linguistic minority. They found that close to 60% of both the English- and French-speaking Black participants reported experiencing racial discrimination. On top of that, more than 25% of English-speaking Black participants reported experiencing language-based discrimination, compared to about 7% of francophones surveyed.

The English-speaking Black participants also reported facing more barriers to mental health services and lower mental health status compared to their francophone counterparts. “The results of this research project helped us get an understanding of how these multiplied minoritized identities affected the health of English-speaking Black community,” said lead author and PhD student in the Department of Psychology, Nmesoma Umenwofor-Nweze. “It is imperative to understand this relationship to build better services for communities that are marginalized on multiple fronts.” 

The Impact of Language on the Mental Health of Black Quebecers by Nmesoma Umenwofor-Nweze et al., was published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.