Bill 87 explained in plain English
Black Mental Health Day Act, 2022
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 87 proclaims the first Monday in March as Black Mental Health Day in Ontario and requires health authorities to collect race-based patient data and provide culturally appropriate health services.
Bill 87 is a private member's bill from Ontario that makes three main changes: 1. **Black Mental Health Day**: It declares the first Monday in March each year as Black Mental Health Day in Ontario to raise awareness of the mental health needs of Black communities and the impacts of anti-Black racism. 2. **Race-Based Health Data Collection**: It amends the Anti-Racism Act, 2017 to require the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Long-Term Care, Ontario Health, and any organization receiving Ontario government funding to provide health care services to collect information about the race of patients. The bill states that any necessary data standards and regulations are automatically considered to include this requirement. 3. **Cultural Appropriateness in Health Services**: It amends the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Act to add a new duty for the Minister of Health to ensure that health services are provided in a culturally appropriate manner. The bill's preamble explains that anti-Black racism in Ontario's public systems (including healthcare and education) negatively affects the mental health and well-being of Black Ontarians, and that there is currently no coordinated requirement for collecting race-based health data to understand and address these inequities.
- Proclaims the first Monday in March in each year as Black Mental Health Day in Ontario
- Amends the Anti-Racism Act, 2017 to require the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Long-Term Care, Ontario Health, and any person or organization receiving Ontario government funding to provide health care services to take all reasonable steps to collect information relating to the race of patients in Ontario
- Deems that any personal information necessary for race-based patient data collection is automatically included in data standards and regulations under the Anti-Racism Act unless already provided for
- Amends the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Act by adding a duty for the Minister to ensure that health services are provided in a culturally appropriate manner
- Repeals Subsection 6(7) of the Anti-Racism Act, 2017
- The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Long-Term Care (required to collect race-based patient data)
- Ontario Health (required to collect race-based patient data)
- Any person or organization receiving Ontario government funding to provide health care services (required to collect race-based patient data)
- The Minister of Health and Long-Term Care (new duty to ensure culturally appropriate health services)
- Black Ontarians and Black communities (intended beneficiaries of Black Mental Health Day proclamation and improved, culturally appropriate health services)
- Healthcare professionals and providers in Ontario
- The Ministry of Health, Ministry of Long-Term Care, Ontario Health, and health care providers receiving Ontario government funding must take all reasonable steps to ensure that information relating to the race of patients in Ontario is collected
- The Minister of Health must ensure that health services are provided in a culturally appropriate manner
- Data standards and regulations are automatically deemed to list any personal information necessary for race-based patient data collection unless already provided for in existing data standards and regulations
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (date not yet determined as of the bill text)
- The first Monday in March in each year is proclaimed as Black Mental Health Day (annual, recurring date)
- The bill does not specify any direct financial impacts, costs, or tax changes. However, implementing race-based patient data collection systems and ensuring culturally appropriate service delivery may involve administrative and operational costs for affected health authorities and providers.
- The bill does not specify penalties or enforcement mechanisms. It uses the language 'shall take all reasonable steps' which creates an obligation, but the bill does not describe how non-compliance would be enforced or what penalties might apply.
- The bill uses the term 'all reasonable steps' to describe the obligation to collect race-based patient data, but does not define what constitutes 'reasonable steps' in practice
- The bill does not specify how race-based data should be collected, stored, protected, or used beyond the implicit connection to addressing health inequities
- The bill does not define what 'culturally appropriate manner' means for health service delivery
- It is unclear how Subsection 6(7) of the Anti-Racism Act, 2017 (which is repealed) relates to or conflicts with the new mandatory data collection requirement, as the text of that subsection is not provided
- The bill does not specify timelines or deadlines for implementing the data collection requirement
- The bill does not specify whether the race-based data collection requirement applies retroactively or only to new patient records going forward
- As of the document provided, the bill has not received Royal Assent and its current legislative status is unclear (the document indicates this is a private member's bill from the 2nd session of the 42nd legislature)
Subsection 6(7) is repealed. A new section 6.1 is added that requires the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Long-Term Care, Ontario Health, and health care providers receiving Ontario funding to take all reasonable steps to collect race-based patient data. Data standards and regulations are automatically deemed to include any necessary personal information for this purpose unless already addressed.
Source: Sections 2(1) and 2(2)
A new duty (paragraph 2.1) is added to Subsection 6(1) requiring the Minister of Health to ensure that health services are provided in a culturally appropriate manner.
Source: Section 3
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced