HCALM


HCALM (the Health Care Access for Linguistic Minorities) was the name of an interdisciplinary, interinstitutional and inter-sectorial research capacity aimed at identifying and addressing health disparities originating from inequitable access to health services due to language barriers. It was based at the Institute for Health and Social Policy, at the Department of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, under PI Daniel Weinstock (law, McGill). The capacity's operations were supported by an interdisciplinary expert advisory committee whose members included James C. MacDougall (psychology, McGill), Mylène Riva (geography, McGill), and Eve Haque (languages, literatures and linguistics, York).

Generously funded by Health Canada for multiple consecutive phases over a decade, the research capacity has become under my academic and scientific leadership (2015-2021) an internationally-recognised research hub for scholars from a broad range of disciplines (e.g. public health, nursing, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychology, psychiatry, dentistry, communication sciences and disorders, speech-language pathology and audiology, social work, political science, linguistics, translation studies, sociology, education, geography, indigenous studies, anthropology, philosophy), as well as for policymakers and practitioners. It comprised three distinct components dedicated to research, student training and dissemination.

Research Program

Annual research funding competition (strategically themed priority areas), offering both seed money and enhanced support streams, and open to both emerging and established scholars.

Student Program

Selective stipendiary one-year interdisciplinary program aimed at advanced students interested in exploring the complex relations between language policy and health policy, providing project funding and academic mentoring. Participants were drawn from psychology, communication sciences and disorders, physical and occupational therapy, nursing, experimental surgery, social work, anthropology, speech therapy and audiology, psychiatry, education, sociology, epidemiology and family medicine.

Dissemination Program

- 2018 HCALM International Conference in Language and Health (special focus: measurement and measurability) (program)
- 2017 HCALM International Conference in Language and Health (special focus: consent) (program)
- 2016 HCALM International Conference in Language and Health (program)


The position was eliminated in 2021 by a new project management.