Professor Katherine Hammond (Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University) will present and discuss her most recent paper "Structural Racism and Income-Related Health Inequities in the Ontario Government and its Public Health Units' Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic".

Early reports in Canada indicated that the health impacts of COVID-19 would be disproportionately worse for marginalized groups due to existing health inequities. While the federal, provincial, and territorial governments had extensive emergency powers at their disposal, the bulk of the pandemic response came from the provinces and territories. Despite warnings about the anticipated disparate impact of the pandemic, data from Ontario indicates that racialized populations and individuals in lower income households were the worst hit by the pandemic. This paper explores four aspects of the Ontario government and its 34 public health units’ emergency response: (1) data collection on COVID-19 and health inequities, (2) administration of COVID-19 testing, (3) the provision of medical services to those with COVID-19, and (4) distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. For each of these four aspects of the Ontario government and its 34 public health units’ response, we highlight central areas where structural racism and income-related health inequities were apparent.