The Healthcare Divide

The Inuit Battle Against TB

Episode Summary

In the mid-twentieth century, Inuit diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) were taken from their communities and sent to sanitoriums in southern Canada. Many never returned, and their families never learned what happened to them. We explore this crisis and how this history has continued to affect those communities, and why even today, TB rates remain 300 times higher there than in the rest of Canada. Voices in this episode: Louassee Kuniliusee, tuberculosis survivor Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Beatrice Ikkidlua, daughter of tuberculosis survivor