Racism, police violence & mental health
In recent weeks, activists and racialized communities have shone a light on ongoing racial discrimination and unacceptable use of force by police against black, Indigenous, and other racialized people. The role of state institutions and white supremacy in reinforcing inequities and harming wellbeing has been front of mind for many.
The conversation has been centred on the role, misconduct, and accountability of police, but many other institutions also play a role in racism and impact the lives and wellbeing of racialized people every day. Racism is a mental health issue and the systems that currently respond to mental health issues, from police to the health care system itself, often reinforce discrimination and exacerbate inequities.
Racism and inequity harms mental health
Racism leads to systemic barriers and discrimination in employment, income, health care, housing, education and other crucial necessities that can negatively impact health and wellbeing and lead to life long and intergenerational inequities. As a result, racialized people are at an increased likelihood of experiencing a mental health issue.[1]
It is well documented that Indigenous people experience higher rates of mental health challenges as a result of complex and intergenerational trauma caused by decades of colonialism, oppression, and discrimination, which continue to this day.[2]
The ongoing and cumulative impact of experiences of racism, such as discriminatory firing or continuous, unrelenting microaggressions, often creates trauma for those who experience this treatment.[3]
Police are too often the first responders in mental health crisis
If inequity contributes to a mental health crisis and a racialized person needs health care, armed police are often engaged instead of mental health services. When police are involved, the intersection of racism and mental health can have catastrophic impacts.
While much of the conversation around police violence has been rooted in events in the United States, there are very recent examples in Canada where police responded to a racialized person with potential health issues by using force, with fatal results. Chantel Moore died on June 4th when she was shot by Edmundston police during a ‘wellness check’.[4] D’Andre Campbell was shot by Peel Regional police in April 2020 after calling the police himself to request mental health services.[5] Kyaw Naing Din was shot by the RCMP in Maple Ridge during a mental health crisis in August 2019.[6]
In BC, Indigenous people and those experiencing mental health crisis disproportionately die in police interactions. Two thirds of all people killed by police use of force in BC between 2013 and 2017 were experiencing mental health symptoms when they died.[7]
Our mental health system can perpetuate racism
Racialized people who are able to access mental health services encounter a system that often fails to recognize or acknowledge systemic racism as a cause of health issues and trauma. By focusing on individualized causes and treatment, services fail to address root causes and validate experiences of oppression.
Instead, “the mental health system frequently ‘mirrors systemic discrimination’ by not acknowledging how racism and other oppressions affect racialized people.”[8] Racialized people with mental health issues often experience “barriers to accessing culturally appropriate treatment, higher involuntary admission rates, a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with psychosis, and increased use of seclusion, restraint and emergency medication.”[9]
In other jurisdictions, it has been documented that Indigenous and racialized people are more likely to experience coercive, involuntary mental health treatment against their wishes.[10] BC does not track data on the race of those subject to coercive health care, making it impossible for us to bring systemic patterns to light, let alone address them.
We all have a responsibility to combat racism
The recent conversations around racism and policing are crucial to the safety and wellbeing of racialized people – their lives are literally at stake. But police are just one particularly powerful and dangerous example of the range of institutions that can perpetuate racism in ways that threaten the health and wellbeing of racialized people.
All institutions, services, and individuals that hold power make a choice about whether they reinforce or dismantle systemic racism.
At Health Justice, we undertake research, education, and advocacy to improve BC’s coercive health care system with the goal of supporting equity and human rights. It is our responsibility to ensure that our work actively combats racism to create systemic changes, whether it be in our organization, in our community, in the legal system, or in the health care system.
[1] Ruby Dhand, “Access to justice for ethno-racial psychiatric consumer/survivors in Ontario” (2011) 29 Windsor Y B Access Just 117 at page 150.
[2] Reclaiming Power and Place: Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Volume 1a at page 425.
[3] Rochaun Meadows-Fernandez, " The Little Understood Mental-Health Effects of Racial Trauma” (23 June 2017) The Cut.
[4] Kathleen Martens, “Indigenous woman shot and killed by N.B police” (4 June 2020) APTN News.
[5] Mark Kelley & Rona Syed, “Family of young black man killed in Brampton, Ont., says he was shot by police after calling 911 himself” (8 June 2020) CBC Fifth Estate.
[6] Ben Mussett, “Family of brother killed by police wants officers to be charged” (21 February 2020) CBC News.
[7] BC Coroners Service Death Review Panel “Opportunities for Different Outcomes – Police: A crucial component of BC’s mental health system” (4 June 2019) BC Coroners Service.
[8] See note 1 at page 150.
[9] Ruby Dhand, “Creating a Cultural Analysis Tool for the Implementation of Ontario’s Mental Health Laws” (2016) 45 International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 25 at page 25.
[10] “Count me in 2010” (June 2010) Care Quality Commission and National Mental Health Development Unit (UK) at pages 22-25.