Intersections of race, COVID-19 pandemic, and food security in Black identifying Canadian households: A scoping review

Abstract

Although studies have identified food insecurity as a racialized inequity issue disproportionately affecting Black identifying Canadians, research exploring how anti-Black racism across multiple systems create inequities including increased risk for food insecurity among African Caribbean Black identifying households in Canada, is limited. Using an intersectionality lens, this scoping review addresses this knowledge gap by elucidating the intersectionality of race with multiple social determinants of health that directly and indirectly impedes Black people (both of African and Caribbean descent) from accessing adequate and appropriate food, resulting in disproportionate health and social outcomes. Critical analyses of twelve journal articles identified systematically and the review of government and organizational reports and websites reveal that food security in Black identifying individuals in Canada is a racialized emergent public health issue rooted in structural and systemic racism that intersects with multiple determinants of health to produce grave social and economic inequities. The recent COVID-19 pandemic intensified these inequities by increasing food insecurity in Black identifying households in Canada. Cultural food security, referring to the ability to acquire and access culturally appropriate foods to one’s ethnic origins as fulfilment to cultural identity, is an interrelated and foundational pillar to food security yet one that is grossly unacknowledged in current actions. National policies are thus needed that recognize cultural food security, and address root causes through increased social support and sustainable food systems. A reasonable first step to ensure the cultural relevance of policies and initiatives is the active engagement of Black communities.