Did the Black Lives Matter Movement Help English-speaking Black Young Adults in Quebec Recover from the Damaging Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The historic events of the spring of 2020—the collision of the worst public health crisis in a century and the largest Black civil rights movement in half a century—offer a unique opportunity to examine how the frustrations and hopes of English-speaking Black young adults were affected. We sought to understand the potentially competing impacts that the public health and social justice crises have had on the young adults in their communities. Quebec has the second largest Black population in Canada (after Ontario), with 27% of Canada’s total Black population. Quebec’s Black population has doubled in size in the past 20 years, with 325,000 people currently living here. This population is predominantly French speaking (80%), and it is concentrated in the Montreal metropolitan area (over 90%). The Black population tends to be younger than the Canadian average, and its members are more likely to be first-generation Canadians.

Parallel title: QUESCREN Working Paper no.4