The Healthcare Divide
Universal healthcare is supposed to mean that everyone gets equitable access, treatment and care. But do we really?
The Healthcare Divide is a new podcast that exposes uncomfortable truths, troubling realities and innovative efforts to overcome systemic racism in Canada’s healthcare system.
Welcome to The Healthcare Divide.
In our new podcast, patients, healthcare workers and medical experts weigh in on everything from experiences of harm to grassroots care movements, policy change, and explorations of artificial intelligence to bridge the divide with real stories, data-driven insights, and expert interviews that expose the cracks in the system.
It’s like mythbusters but for healthcare – The Healthcare Divide takes an unflinching look at who gets left out in Canada’s “universal” quest for wellness, and what is being done to build a healthier, fairer future for all.
Named Maclean’s top Health Care Innovator of 2023, Dr. Alika Lafontaine has been at the epicentre of healthcare system change for almost two decades. He is the first Indigenous physician and the youngest doctor to lead the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) in its 156-year history, and the first Indigenous physician to be listed on The Medical Post’s 50 Most Powerful Doctors.
The Health Care Divide is brought to you by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation with support from Pfizer Canada and produced by Antica Productions and Makwa Creative.
Podcast theme music by Handsome Tiger.
Episode 1 – Deadly Assumptions
A look into the practice of ‘race corrections’ and anti-Black racism in Canadian medical practice.
Episode 2 – The Digital Therapist
Exploring the advantages and disadvantages of using AI to improve access to mental health care.
Episode 3 – The Inuit Battle Against TB
Discussing the historical and continued effects of tuberculosis on Inuit.
Episode 4 – Uninsured: How Universal is Canada’s Healthcare System?
Examining the unique challenges faced by migrants without insurance in the Canadian healthcare system.
Episode 5 – Front and Centre: Filipino Healthcare Workers and COVID
Highlighting the exacerbated effects of COVID on Filipino healthcare workers, who faced conditions such as low wages and precarious migrant status.
Episode 6 – Two Worlds of Medicine
Analyzing how to incorporate Indigenous medical practices/philosophies into the current healthcare system.