Sending love today to Jewish people for seeing images of Swastikas all week.

Sending love today to Black people for seeing images of Confederate flags all week.

Sending love today to Indigenous people for seeing appropriation and mockery of ceremonies all week. /1 Sending love today to all my fellow POC, migrants, Muslim folks, queer, trans and non-binary folks, disabled people and other minoritized people who are no doubt feeling terrorized knowing white supremacist neo-Nazis hate us too. /2

Speaking to fellow non-Indigenous people in Canada today, including fellow racialized people and immigrants, because despite our own challenges, whether we like it or not, we all have and continue to benefit from the colonization of Indigenous Peoples' land. /1 I moved to Canada at age 13 to start high school. I made it all the way to medical school before I really heard anything about Indigenous Peoples. I literally did not know they "still" existed on this land. I am ashamed to admit this, but it is also *not* a coincidence. /2

***Doug Ford's announcement is NOT paid sick days!*** Paid sick days come through legislation requiring employers to provide days where a worker can be off sick, and get paid. Ford is "working on" sick pay, which is something you would have to apply for and wait for. #onpoli Ford is using confusing language to make it sound like he is bringing paid sick days, but this is NOT the actual legislation we need. Please continue to call Doug Ford's office and Conservative MPPs to tell them we need **10 permanent employer-provided paid sick days**. #onpoli

Powerful people know that in order to enslave, colonize, criminalize, restrict movement, extract labour, invade - you *must* dehumanize those you seek to oppress - or else it will just be seen as what it is - violence. The most humanity is always granted to those at the top. This phenomenon is important because it is the way people who have privilege but may not be in positions of power participate in oppression. Convincing the dominant group that others are “below you” because they are less deserving of humanity is key to continued oppression.

Today, as we drop off our kids worrying about #COVID19, remember that for 100 years, Indigenous parents had their kids taken by force “for their own good” to schools where they were denied their culture, insulted, beaten, not treated when sick and *half* died. #OrangeShirtDay2020 The last residential school closed in 1996. This is not ancient history. Many survivors walk amongst us today. Many families were irreparably harmed and so many children became adults denied a childhood. The immense trauma reverberates to this day. #OrangeShirtDay2020

Almost every new South Asian parent I know has named their child based on how the name will be pronounced in white Western society. I eliminated 1000s of names for this reason. This is what it looks like to have a dominant culture shape your every move. Our children’s very names. Tip: If you're not sure how to pronounce a name (this happens to me on the regular seeing patients) just say, "I'm sorry. How do you pronounce your name?" - while this may feel uncomfortable, it shows you're willing to prioritize someone else's dignity over your own comfort.

“Unprofessionalism” has long been wielded in medicine to maintain a toxic culture that signals the “right” way to be as determined by those with the most power. This means policing women’s attire but also creating a culture of silence in political advocacy. #medkini #MedTwitter #

https://twitter.com/NickLeighton12/status/1286637993030287363

There is a strong current in medicine that is named explicitly in this paper to stay away from “controversial topics”. The problem is that as MDs we hold tremendous power and often also witness how injustice manifests in our society in a very real way. #medkini #MedTwitter

This is a must-read for all who care about equity and #sdoh in Toronto. The hardest hit neighbourhoods by #COVID19 are in the city's northwest, and second to this, in the east. #topoli

https://twitter.com/TorontoStar/status/1277249154717229059

These are the same maps we've seen before - where the most poverty is, where the most racialized and particularly Black people are, where the most diabetes is, where the poorest transit access is, and now where the most #COVID19 is. #topoli #sdoh

#BREAKING: Today I joined doctors (@DrsDefundPolice) sending a letter to Toronto City Hall to address the public health crisis of policing. We want to stop anti-Black & anti-Indigenous racism, #DefundThePolice and re-allocate funds to resource communities. #sdoh #BlackLivesMatter As a physician, I took an oath to improve the health of the communities I serve. Today, with
@DrsDefundPolice, I call on Toronto City Hall to STOP systemic racism in policing, listen to Black, Indigenous, trans, poor, disabled communities and #DefundThePolice now! #topoli #sdoh

I can not imagine ANY OTHER INDUSTRY where a worker is asked to continue to go to work while COVID positive (asymptomatic or not) - this is NOT because migrant workers are essential workers, but rather that their labour is essential, and their lives are not. #sdoh #COVID19

https://twitter.com/ShailRawalMD/status/1275944860344868871

We have had three deaths from #COVID19 of migrant workers in Ontario - all three are men from Mexico. One farm had almost 200 cases. Workers have described sharing a shower with up to 40 ppl, and being sent back to work after being swabbed. #sdoh #cdnimm cbc.ca/news/canada/lo…

Want to know how systemic racism works? Delve into Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program - a program that brings migrants, mostly Latinx and Black men from Mexico and the Caribbean to pick our fruits and vegetables.
theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl… #sdoh #cdnpoli The workers live in cramped quarters working inhumane hours with little worker protections, often reporting fear of raising concerns - for an inside look, I highly recommend the documentary Migrant Dreams by @minsooklee - tvo.org/video/document… #cdnhealth #cdnpoli #sdoh

Hey #MedTwitter: I've been seeing lots of tweets of docs and trainees pledging to fight anti-Black racism which is amazing. As non-Black MDs, I thought it may be worth thinking through some practical things we can all do. I'd love for others to add. #BlackLivesMatter #meded /1 1. Support Black trainees and colleagues if you see them experience racism. This is super common in their daily lives, and if you witness it, it's really important to check in to validate and figure out how best to support. They may or may not want to pursue 'action'. /2 #meded

Did you know the origins of police depts in the US was literally slave patrols to catch “runaway” enslaved Africans and in other jurisdictions, set up by white settlers to police Native Americans? How do we expect that would play out? plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/bri… #BlackLivesMatter In Canada, the RCMP assisted with the “moving” of Indigenous people onto reserves and subsequently were the ones who removed children from their families to take to the Indian Residential School System. History matters. This is how racism is embedded. #IndigenousLivesMatter

Nine homeless shelters in Toronto have outbreaks with 69 known cases. Public messaging has told us all to stay home. But what if you have no home? We are told to stay 2 metres away from people. But what if you sleep less than 2 metres away from other people every night? #COVID19 These are just the cases we know. While people in shelters are considered high risk for transmission and therefore a priority to test, people exp homelessness are also the least likely to be able to go to an assessment centre, stand in a long line, and await results. #covid19

Toronto Street Nurses Network and allies have put out the urgent public calls I've been waiting for:
1. New shelter spaces to allow social distancing
2. More quarantine spaces for ppl experiencing homelessness
3. A strategy to support ppl who use drugs
#COVID19 #sdoh

https://twitter.com/streetnursesTO/status/1240689435374546944

4. Open drop-ins with showers, bathrooms, meals, day shelter
5. Expand supports for those sleeping outside
6. Increase addictions supports in shelters and community
7. Ensure access to protective equipment for workers serving ppl experiencing homelessness

A global crisis sure has a way of highlighting the cracks in our system:
1. Uninsured migrants in Canada denied care at emergency rooms can not be screened.
2. People experiencing homelessness living in crowded shelters can not 'self-isolate' #Covid_19 3. People living in poverty cannot hoard household goods in the event of self-quarantine
4. People working low wage precarious jobs without paid sick days cannot afford to stay home when they're sick #Covid_19

@avioletcat @CMAJ The issue is the definition of sexism. The assumptions of a woman being in a particular role are a result of the greater history and politics that have shaped our reality. @avioletcat @CMAJ Sexism ie the greater system that historically has oppressed women over men has created a reality where women predominate lower paid less valued care and home related work- child care, elder care, cleaning, and lower paid healthcare positions

I think there's a lot that we can learn from what happened around the piece entitled "Sexism in Medicine" published in @CMAJ this month. cmaj.ca/content/192/5/… #medtwitter #meded /1 @CMAJ For starters, I want to thank the authors Fizza Manzoor and Donald A. Redelmeier (neither of whom I know personally) for attempting to foray into this issue. Talking about systemic issues is never easy and the conversations will be hard, imperfect ones. #medtwitter /2

This is a *very* misleading picture of a complex issue. The CBC is talking about a small number of women paying to come to Canada to have their babies. While this likely exists, the numbers here are stats of ALL non-resident births in Canada. /1 #cdnhealth #sdoh

https://twitter.com/cbcErica/status/1213867961867333632

This means anyone giving birth in Canada who does not have a provincial health card. That can be a very wide swath of people: tourists, students, new immigrants, migrant workers, humanitarian claimants, pre-refugee claimants, undocumented people. /2 #cdnpoli #cdnhealth

Thinking a lot about what it means to operationalize equity in health spaces. When spaces are designed largely with the majority in mind, how do we do better at identifying who needs different processes and resources and better provide them? #cdnhealth #medtwitter When we don’t think intentionally about how to identify and meet the needs of the most marginalized folks in our community, those are the people who fall through our cracks. We shouldn’t be surprised when this happens. Status quo doesnt work. #cdnhealth #medtwitter

Leonard on “Indian hospitals” which existed from 1920s-80s - segregation was to prevent exposure to the white population from TB and place where medical experimentation was done without informed consent. And we wonder why indigenous folks may not trust health spacws. #medtwitter These facilities were often repurposed military barracks, lacking basic facilities like proper kitchens. Patients would have lung resection done under local anesthetic. #medtwitter