Quebec educational institutions placing Black nursing students at a disadvantage: study

Some say Quebec educational institutions, are putting Black nursing students at a disadvantage, alleging discrimination and unequal treatment in courses and internships. A preliminary study conducted by two researchers and professors of health sciences on behalf of the Observatory of Black Communities shows some students taking up to two years longer to complete their three-year program, unlike their white peers.

“Some institutions do not feel that there is an issue. So we have to make sure that we acknowledge that there is an issue,” says Jennifer Philogène the Manager, of the Canadian Black Nurses Alliance (CBNA) of Quebec and a practising nurse for nine years.

Philogène says she recognized the unequal treatment given to Black nursing students for the first time while she was a student.

“We started off as a cohort or of 150 students,” says Philogène. By the end of three years only 22 students remained in the program, of those three were Black, and out of the group that graduated on time Philogène says she was the only Black student.

“I felt like I was alone when I graduated … I had two other peers that graduated after four years…it made me wonder, is it going to be the same thing throughout my whole career?”

The study highlighted that during the internship period of the three-year program, Black students would often times get the more complicated cases and be expected to make fewer mistakes than their white counterparts.

CityNews spoke to a nursing instructor from a Quebec institution, she asked that her identity be hidden as she fears repercussions, but says she has seen this first hand in her current role and while she herself was a student.

“They have to work twice as hard to give the same result and sometimes, even though they do work that hard, they don’t get the benefits, and sometimes they fail a lot more than the white students.”

While studying, she remembers her internship as being “horrible.” One student was making four mistakes in one day…everything was perfect for me, and still I had lower grades than that student,” she says.

As an instructor, she says Black students, “are scared because they feel like no matter what they do, they’re never going to get better as the other students.” Being the first Black nursing instructor at the institution she teaches for, she says she can see the relief in students when they begin their internship.

“You see their face light up, they say to me, ‘Oh, my God, I’m so happy’ to have a Black teacher because I feel like I feel like nothing can be unfair.”

Philogène, says if nothing is done to try and help combat the prevalent discrimination, more and more students will leave the profession or work else where outside the province, all this as Quebec is facing a shortage of healthcare professionals.

“They feel like the system is against them, and some of them just quit the program altogether, even after five years of study because they think it’s not worth it anymore, which is not helping our situation right now.”

Philogène says having groups like The CBNA within universities for Black nursing students, would help so that students will have a space dedicated to them where they feel welcomed.

“We hope to be present for Black students in all the universities and CEGEP’s in the province,” she adds.