🛠️ Chapter 4: Relevance to Practice
27 4.3: Representation
“Seeing a Black program director for the MAN program at Guelph provided comfort in knowing there ARE Black dietitians and ones who hold positions of power in the educational system. Seeing a face like mine made me feel all my efforts to that point were not in vain. Although I had not been accepted to the program as yet, it was reassuring to see a face like mine.”- Canadian Dietetic Research Student
Representation and advocacy are critical for addressing issues of burnout and ensuring that diverse perspectives are included within the dietetics profession. Increasing representation Black dietitians can help to combat systemic biases and improve cultural competency in healthcare. The Canadian Black Registered Dietitians Association (CBRDA) is dedicated to advocating for Black dietitians and enhancing the profession’s inclusivity.
Video 4.3: Founders of the Canadian Black Registered Dietitians Association, Zoe Barnett and Bianca Cordeiro, discuss the challenges of representation and support for Black dietitians in Canada. They emphasize the importance of diversifying the profession to better serve and reflect the communities they support.
Stop and Reflect
Case 4.1: Creating Culturally Appropriate Resources
Authors: Bianca and Zoe Barnett & Bianca Cordiero
Trigger warning: this story includes examples of racism and prejudice.
Keywords: Culturally Appropriate Food, Culturally Relevant, Prejudice.
Evelyn, a new Black dietitian of Ghanian descent, was looking for sodium content information in traditional Ghanian foods to host a community education session about hypertension for her Ghanian-Canadian community. After looking in both the Canadian and US hypertension and sodium resources, she was unable to find the information. When she mentioned it to co-workers and asked if any of them knew of any resources for her their response was, “No, sorry. Why don’t you just make a resource yourself?” Resolute to provide culturally relevant information to her community, she asked around for other Black dietitians. One of her colleagues, Michelle, said “I heard something about a Black dietitian network, but I don’t think they really do anything.” Evelyn was able to get in touch with CBRDA and she found 2 dietitians, Esther and Sarah, who were working on a very similar resource for their clients. Evelyn joined Esther and Sarah and created a West African Hypertension working group to develop a resource for both Ghanian and Nigerian clients. The working group was able to save all 3 dietitians so much time and they were able to bond with each other in the process.
Stop and Reflect
Additional Resource:
There are more BIPOC dietitians advocating for diversity. Diversify Dietetics is an organization started in the United States of America that has a Canadian Chapter. Learn more about how you can get involved on the Diversify Dietetics website