Canada's premier medical journal says it's eager to address the role it plays in perpetuating anti-Black racism in health care.
The Canadian Medical Association Journal says a special edition released this morning is the first of two that spotlight Black authors, examine system-wide failures and urge change.
Editor-in-chief Kirsten Patrick says the publication is also working on ways to ensure future issues better represent the work of Black experts and the needs of Black patients.
She says that includes a plan to examine and eliminate any of the journal's practices that undermine contributions from authors who are not white.
Patrick says barriers to health care equity extend far beyond the C-M-A-J but that the journal has a platform to influence the profession and encourage systemic change.
The two special editions follow years of advocacy by a group known as the Black Health Education Collaborative.
Its co-lead OmiSoore Dryden, an associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University, says anti-Black racism is still not fully understood and accepted by the medical community.