In Iqaluit, Trudeau to apologize for federal mistreatment of TB-infected Inuit
Posted March 6, 2019 4:30 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA — The federal government is planning to open up a database of more than 9,000 files to allow Inuit families to learn about relatives lost during the tuberculosis outbreaks of the mid-20th century.
Sources familiar with the plan say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce the opening of the database Thursday in Iqaluit as part of a federal apology for how some Inuit were treated during the epidemics.
The apology and database are part of a process called “Nanilavut,” which means “let’s find them” in Inuktitut.
The aim is to help Inuit find the gravesites of family members who were transported to southern Canada for TB treatment between the 1940s and the 1960s.
The Canadian Public Health Association has estimated about one-third of Canada’s Inuit population became infected during the outbreaks.
Many of those who died were never returned to their families but were instead buried in unmarked plots.
The Canadian Press
