Colors of Covid

McGill professors and community activists in Montreal argue that race-based data on Covid-19 is needed in Quebec and Canada for governments to provide communities with an equitable and targeted response.  McGill professors Alicia Boatswain-Kyte and Jill Hanley and community activists Thierry Lindor, the founder of Influence Orbis and Tiffany Callender, the Executive Director of the Cote-des-Neiges Black Community Association (CBCA) stepped in to gather race-based data on Covid-19.

The Colors of COVID is an online platform developed by Influence Orbis that allows people across Canada to answer a 90 second survey. Professors Alicia Boatswain-Kyte and Jill Hanley helped formulate the survey questions and provided support to make sure the methodology is accurate.  CBCA, who has developed a relationship of trust with its members, sent out the survey and encouraged people to complete it.

Colors of Covid will collect data on Covid-19 infections among Black and Indigenous people, and people of colour, as well as gather statistics on food insecurity, job losses, and the state of people’s mental health.

“What excites me is the ability to be able to get these very precise markers of data that might be showing or indicating a portrait that we were not aware of and to then be able to respond, says Boatswain-Kyte.”

You can visit the McGill Reporter to learn more about the study and Professor Boatswain-Kyte’s research.