Making health care accessible to racialized and migrant LGBTQI+ people

Despite Canada’s universal health-care system, migrants and racialized people who are LGBTQI+ face many structural and intersecting barriers to access and benefit from available services. These barriers directly impact this community’s health outcomes, contributing to higher rates of illness and death.

Clinique Mauve was launched in Montreal to address these inequities through integrated medical care and psycho-social services – involving social workers, therapists and peer navigators – that are trauma-informed, anti-oppressive and tailored to meet the health needs of racialized and migrant LGBTQI+ people.

Developed and delivered in close collaboration with community partner AGIR, a community organization created by and for LGBTQI+ migrant community, Clinique Mauve operates within a family medicine group at the Health and Social Services Centres of Côte-des-Neiges and Parc-Extension, and the Actuel medical clinic.

That’s where Dr. Edward Lee, an associate professor at Université de Montréal’s School of Social Work and a member of the Centre for Public Health Research (CReSP), comes in.

Funded by Even the Odds, a joint program of MAP (Unity Health Toronto) and Staples/Bureau en gros,  Lee's research team will explore the best ways to improve Montreal’s Clinique Mauve services and insure its long-term operation.

In collaboration with the ongoing Trans Indigenous Youth Social Action Research Sharing Circle, a project led by Dr. Annie Pullen Sansfaçon in partnership with the organization P10, the research team will also study the possibility of tailoring the clinic's services to serve Two-Spirit and/or trans Indigenous people, especially youth.

“We know that Clinique Mauve is a very promising model of integrated care,” said Lee. “We’re launching this study to help us understand the aspects of the clinic that are most effective, and how we can scale up and share successful strategies with other care providers and communities across Canada.”

Source: Centre de recherche en santé publique de l'Université de Montréal