Every morning for two weeks, Anthonette Jacob arrived at The Ottawa Hospital General Campus at 8 a.m. for 15 minutes of radiation treatment for breast cancer. Then she went straight to the African, Caribbean & Black Wellness Resource Centre (ACB) that she had founded, turning her recovery into a mission to help others heal.
Jacob founded the ACB Wellness Centre in 2021. By the following year, she had completed 15 radiation rounds and begun a five-year course of hormone therapy.
“At that time, I was focusing so much more on opening the first Black holistic resource centre,” she said. “My focus wasn’t on myself but more on what I can do for the community.”
With two years left in her treatment, Jacob says her time has been focused on her docuseries “Cancer While Black,” which tells stories from people in the Black community and their cancer journey.
She has also written a 365-day devotional book, Cancer While Black: Prayers for Hope and Strength, which contains scripture and prayers for those in the Black community facing cancer and who are struggling.
The ACB has become one of many grassroots groups in Ottawa committed to supporting and bridging the gap between Black communities and the health-care system.
The Government of Canada says one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. However, Black women diagnosed with breast cancer face worse outcomes, diagnosis at a later stage, more aggressive forms and higher mortality in certain age groups.
Systemic racism, mistrust of the health-care system and cultural stigma deter many Black women from early screening and diagnosis, said Danielle James, engagement and learning co-ordinator for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice at the Canadian Women of Colour Leadership Network (CWCLN).
“We know that Black women don’t have access to health care. We know that there are barriers. We know that they’re getting diagnosed late, that there’s medical mistrust, which will often cause people [to say] ‘We don’t want to go get it checked out yet’ or until it’s too late.”
CWCLN is an Ottawa grassroots group that advocates for research and race-based data in health care while building a network for Black and racialized women.
Black women in Canada are also severely underrepresented in research and public reporting. Canada has a “colourblind” approach that hides disparities and makes targeted policy impossible, said Josephine Etowa, Canada Research Chair in Advancing Black Women’s Health in Canada and a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Health Sciences.
“We hear all kinds of stories about Black women telling their health-care providers about pain or changes in their bodies and not being taken seriously or being dehumanized and objectified,” said Etowa.
Jacob said she experienced this with her first doctor. When she told him she felt a lump on her breast, her doctor said, “Are you sure? I don’t feel anything.”
“I had to physically take his hand, and put it on my breast to show him the location,” Jacob said.
Twenty-five years ago, Leila Springer had a similar experience. After going to the doctor three times and being told the lump on her breast was “nothing,” she was finally diagnosed with cancer.
After searching for support groups for Black women with breast cancer and coming up empty-handed, Springer decided to create her own. The Olive Branch of Hope, based in North York, is the only Black breast cancer survivor-led organization in Canada.
Springer said that there was no support for Black women then.
“If you picked up any kind of literature at all at that time, there were no Black women on it. All of them were white. I couldn’t see a representation for me.”
As part of its advocacy, CWCLN aims to increase representation within the health-care system and pool resources with other groups to spread awareness.
Black women need to be checked earlier than their white counterparts because there are already [genetic] predispositions or complications there that would indicate that [Black women] need to start testing and screening people younger.
Danielle James, engagement and learning co-ordinator for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice at the Canadian Women of Colour Leadership Network (CWCLN).
Amoy Jacques, manager of Equity and Integration for the Black Health Plan, lost her mother to triple-negative breast cancer. This experience drives her work with Somerset West Community Health Centre in collaboration with ACB Wellness Resource Centre, which has partnered with CWCLN and several health centres in Ottawa to offer free screenings and information sessions in October — Breast Cancer Awareness Month — to support early detection in Black communities.
“Black women need to be checked earlier than their white counterparts because there are already [genetic] predispositions or complications there that would indicate that [Black women] need to start testing and screening people younger,” said James.
The use of race-based health data is gaining momentum, but for change to be made, Etowa said, Ottawa health-care providers need anti-racism training, institutions need to have mandatory standardized race-based data collection and screening policies need to be revisited.
“Centralizing the voices of Black women is a key part of how we can address Black women’s health issues,” said Etowa.
Earlier this year, Anthonette Jacob said she partnered with The Ottawa Cancer Foundation and The Ottawa Hospital General Campus to work together on more data collection for Black women and breast cancer in Canada.
