Considerations for collecting data on race and Indigenous identity during health card renewal across Canadian jurisdictions

#Key Points

• Canada’s health care systems do not routinely collect self-reported race and Indigenous identity data and often lack a standardized and consistent approach to data collection that would permit comparisons between organizations or jurisdictions.

• Collecting racial and Indigenous identity data is necessary for measuring health inequities related to racism, holding organizations accountable and tracking progress; however, collecting such data could cause harm if done inappropriately.

• Near-universal race and Indigenous identity data could be collected efficiently at health card application and renewal across Canadian jurisdictions, which would likely be more efficient and effective than data collection at other touchpoints.

• Essential preconditions to collection of data on race and Indigenous identity include Indigenous data governance and sovereignty, engagement and governance by racialized communities, recognition of the potential for and mitigation of the misuse of data, and transparency, accountability and a commitment to act on inequities.