Summary: Social Inequality In Canada

Words: 440
Pages: 2

Canadians who belong to a visual minority continue to face the harsh realities of their race, as the level of racism that is embedded in society and negative health outcomes interconnect. This correlation suggests that marginalized groups are more susceptible to health inequalities compared to the average Canadian (Power 2015). As the need for healthcare increases, many people are disadvantaged because of their position on the socio-economic ladder (Pederson and Raphael 2008:166). Social capital affects socio-economic status, which determines the opportunities that one may have available to them and, therefore, controls what resources a person is able to obtain. However, when a person is of a minority group, their socio-economic ranking is …show more content…
Many immigrants who arrive on Canadian soil today belong to one of society’s many visual minorities and, therefore, struggle to conform to the common lifestyle lead by Canadian-born citizens. With the variety of cultures and ethnicities in Canada, a major portion of the population is made up of these visual minorities. Even though there are so many minority groups across Canada, people who belong to these groups are still marginalized from society because of the embedded forms of racism and discrimination. The discrimination towards these minorities’ causes more social and health inequalities. However, not all races deal with the same level of heath inequalities, some races suffer more than others (Nakhaie and Wijesingha 2012:1270). Research has shown that “different racial/ethnic groups have different coping mechanisms and different levels/forms of social support which enable them to separate themselves more from the negative health effects of marginalization” (ibid). Different racialized groups also share different socio-economic setbacks; such as employment, housing, and income, that contribute to their varying levels of health inequalities. For example, “the mechanisms through which Black people or East Indian immigrants experience discrimination and consequently health problems differs significantly to groups such as Latin Americans” (ibid). In Canada, Aboriginal people (one of Canada’s represented visual minorities), suffer greatly from negative health inequalities because of their compromising socio-economic status and because of this, “…[in] every age group between 25 and 64, the proportion of Aboriginal peoples reporting poor health is double that of the total population, with this effect being more pronounced among Aboriginal women” (Pederson and Raphael