Migration, ethics and public health in Quebec
Gravel, S.; Brodeur, J-M.; Champagne, F.; Vissandjée, B.
Revue d'Epidemiologie et de Sante Publique 53(2): 192-204
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 0398-7620 PMID: 16012377 Document Number: 588758
This article analyses the ethical issues of migration in relation to public health in Quebec. There are two objectives: to describe the progression of analysis of the migration phenomenon in public health over the last thirty years and to state the ethical debate it raises. The progression of analysis of the migration phenomenon has been characterised by various approaches: intercultural, acculturation, transcultural, and migratory journey. Although these approaches have contributed to the development of knowledge about the reality of immigration, they have also, in spite of themselves, generated stigmatisation, discrimination and the proliferation of prejudices. Generally, findings that have emerged when migration is taken into account indicate an imbalance of power. For some, to focus on the phenomenon of migration promotes the power imbalance while for others, to disregard it masks the issue.