In Fall 2017, a group of Black public health students studying at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), University of Toronto, gathered in response to shared experiences of academic isolation, anti-Black racism and a growing discontentment with public health education. These gatherings laid the foundation for what we now call the Black Public Health Collective (BPHC), originally called the Black Public Health Students’ Collective. 

BPHC follows in a long history of Black student organizing in Canada, a site where we quickly learned our dreams outgrew the academy. While beginning from the hopes and liberatory desires of then-public health students at the University of Toronto, we know our work must extend beyond the ivory tower to include Black peoples learning and practicing public health.

Read our strategic plan here.