Manitoba’s health regulatory colleges are mandated by the government to protect the public interest, in part by developing and enforcing standards of practice. To ensure the safe, ethical, and competent provision of services to patients, regulatory Colleges also provide guidance to health professionals in interpreting and applying standards, policies, and legislation to all aspects of their practice. Creating resources such as this learning module on the important topic of health equity and cultural safety is one way that the Colleges carry out this role. 

In Manitoba and elsewhere in Canada, health professionals have an obligation to be aware of systems that contribute to health inequity and unsafe care, and to understand and address the determinants and drivers of these health inequities that these populations experience. As people delivering services in a system that has discrimination built into it, care providers have real-time opportunities to advocate for or create change at different levels within their workplaces, so that all clients have access to safe, ethical, and competent care regardless of their culture, gender, income, education, or other socioeconomic circumstance.