Diversity of perspectives: dismantling racism and discrimination
Listen time: 43 minutes
As the province’s medical regulator, CPSA must address racism, discrimination and implicit bias in our healthcare system.
When it comes to racism, discrimination and bias, we are complicit if we don’t speak up or take action. In this podcast, three CPSA team members discuss the devastating impacts of discrimination on patients and care providers in our healthcare system. Throughout their conversation, Shawn Knight, Fizza Gilani and Dr. Ewan Affleck touch on the history and complexities of Canada’s care system, the importance of looking inward to address our personal biases and how we can create a safe environment where honest discourse can ignite collective action.
The group discusses how CPSA and its teammates can be better allies and continue to lead by example—starting by publicly acknowledging that these issues exist and establishing groups to help guide us in this work, including CPSA’s Indigenous Advisory Circle and the Anti-Racism Anti-Discrimination Action Advisory Committee.
Content warning: This podcast includes discussion about trauma associated with Canada’s residential school system.
Dr. Ewan Affleck
Dr. Ewan Affleck is a health information and practising physician who serves as Senior Medical Advisor, Health Informatics at CPSA. Dr. Affleck spent the better part of thirty years working in Canada's Arctic with Inuit, First Nations and Métis peoples, and through this experience grew to understand that deep health inequities exist for Indigenous peoples living in Canada. This led him to write and produce The Unforgotten, an award-winning documentary film that explores how the Canadian health service has been used to subjugate and oppress Indigenous peoples living in Canada.
Fizza Gilani, BSc. Pharm, PMP
Fizza Gilani has been a CPSA team member since 2016 and currently serves as Program Manager, Prescribing, Analytics & TPP Alberta. Her role entails working with internal and external stakeholders for data acquisition, analysis and mobilization towards quality improvement at individual, member and public health level.
Fizza is currently pursuing a master’s degree in epidemiology at Harvard Chan School of Public Health. She follows the Islamic faith and celebrates her cultural identity as a first-generation immigrant. Fizza is incredibly proud of her children, who keep her grounded in the value of challenging and questioning status quo, delving into topics of race, identity and islamophobia and playing a role, however small, in dismantling structural biases. In this vein, Fizza participates as a member of CPSA’s Anti-Racism Anti-Discrimination Action Advisory Committee
Shawn Knight
Shawn Knight (he/him) was CPSA’s Chief of Staff and executive lead for CPSA’s Communications, People & Culture, Policy, Government Relations and Standards of Practice teams. Shawn is passionate about achieving healthcare excellence and accountability through a regulatory model that places the public first. He has worked in various positions in Alberta’s healthcare sector for nearly 30 years, including as a ground and flight paramedic, paramedic educator and public service executive at Alberta Health. Shawn received a paramedic diploma from NAIT, a BEd in adult education from Brock University, a Master’s of Public Administration from DePaul University and completed a fellowship in health system improvement from the University of Alberta.
As a member of CPSA’s executive team, Shawn’s primary role was governance and executive support for Council. He also served on several CPSA committees, including the Strategic Planning Working Group, the Indigenous Advisory Circle and the Anti-Racism Anti-Discrimination Action Advisory Committee.