Health ministry says it has plan to support Nunavik as TB cases rise
Region reports 74 cases as of July 30; for all of last year, it had 94
Inuit living in Nunavik face tuberculosis rates 1,000 times greater than those of non-Inuit in the province, according to the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services. So far this year, the region has reported 103 cases of TB. (File photo)
An action plan to support Nunavik as its tuberculosis caseload grows has been drafted by Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services.
The region has reported 74 TB cases as of July 30. Last year’s record number of cases was 94 cases, said Andreas Schaffhauser-Carpentier, a spokesperson for the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services.
The Health Ministry is closely monitoring Nunavik’s situation and is collaborating with Santé Québec, the government corporation that co-ordinates operations of Quebec’s health and social services networks, to support the region, Marie-Claude Lacasse, a media co-ordinator for the Ministry of Health and Social Services, said in an email.
She said a ministerial working group has been established to help the Nunavik health board manage the TB crisis.
However, when asked about the working group, Schaffhauser-Carpentier said the Nunavik health board hasn’t been made aware of it.
“Our public health team has had formal meetings with the [health] minister on the matter of TB, but have no information on this internal ministerial working group,” he said in a French email
Nunatsiaq News contacted the Health Ministry for more information about the working group but didn’t receive a response.
On June 9, Nunavik’s 14 mayors signed a joint letter to Health Minister Christian Dubé demanding he declare a public health emergency over tuberculosis in the region.
At the time, Nunavik had 40 TB cases.
In the letter, the mayors said Nunavik’s tuberculosis rate is 1,000 times higher than among non-Indigenous, Canadian-born Quebec residents.
In 2023, the Public Health Agency of Canada reported Canada’s TB rate as 5.5 cases per 100,000 people, while the rate among Inuit was 204.2 per 100,000 people.
Lacasse’s email said an eight-module tuberculosis training program will be available online by the end of 2026. The modules are intended to help professionals apply that knowledge in the community.
For the public, two leaflets detailing what tuberculosis is, how it’s transmitted, and how a screening test is done, are being updated. Current updates on TB are available on the health ministry’s website.
This is very concerning. I can remember way back in the day where TB was even higher in some communities. I had to take pills for one year, as did my family. We took our pills daily and compliance was a big issue in our community. The nurses were continuously working with getting people to cooperate but on the end of the year, it couldn’t be called a success. It was incredibly how the behaviours were in not taking the medication. Some people admitted to not taking as ordered and others just didn’t take it as ordered and said little as tine was going. Then others took it only under strict supervision by the nurses. We talk here about adults, not kids most of them. Its never changed too much. We still have adults thats don’t take the medication and others that only do if supervised. Hygiene is also a problem with housing shortage, but even if no housing shortage, i think people would still not cooperate, cause 40 years ago , our housing wasn’t as badly pronounced as it is now and people didn’t participate as they should. Yes very concerning. Just sitting in close quarters in meetings and feast and gathering like aqpik ham puts peopke at risk, sitting in the plane even.
Not sharing on facebook, but that old way of sharing the cigarette, the joint, the beer can. When you see 30 49 years ago old people out in the streets like children, you know it’s troubling. It’s really disturbing and dysfunctional. I mean otherwise in a decent setting or society , the people that age group are devoted parents contributing members to harmony and livelihood, but here we gave nuisance out in the streets drunk, stoned. Its not hard to see, look you healthy authorities members. Spy with your little eye on our situation, understand what you’re up against.