With the events over the past few weeks, we have taken time to listen, learn, and reflect on the role of information to inform and re-shape our systems.

For more than a century now, health information has played a key role in driving the care that people receive. As health information professionals, we transform health data into valuable information that tells the health stories of Canadians. Unfortunately, these stories are not always fair or just. We see it in the way some groups have been hit harder by COVID-19 than others and experience a higher difficulty accessing appropriate health resources. Inequalities in the social determinants of health—including but not limited to sex and gender identity, race, social exclusion, or having a social safety net—act as barriers to addressing these disparities. It is imperative that we recognize and address the factors that allow health inequity to continue.  

At the Association and College, we stand with other health care organizations in calling for more action to ensure health data better reflects the people and their stories so that we can eliminate the bias that exists in our health systems today.