Nunavut health group to commemorate Inuit TB victims

Members of a major health project in Nunavut are holding a ceremony on Tuesday to remember Inuit who lost their lives to tuberculosis in the 1950s and '60s.

The Nunavut Inuit Health Survey— known as Qanuippitali?, which isInuktitut for,"How about us, how are we?" — is hosting a commemoration ceremony in Apex, near Iqaluit, at 2 p.m. ET. The event is expected to include a drum dance, speeches by elders, and an unveiling of a plaque.

During the project, 40 doctors, nurses, lab technicians and interpreters, along with 40 coast guard personnel, have been travelling to 19 coastal communities around the territory in August and September aboard a "floating health lab" on the icebreaker Amundsen.

They bring Inuit on board the Amundsen for three-hour medical appointments. Randomly selected participants are asked fill out questionnaires and undergo medical tests for diseases such as diabetes and stroke.

Survey lead Prof. Dr. Grace Egeland of McGill University said the projectraised memories of the C.D. Howe medical ship in the 1950s, which gathered about 1,600 Inuit tuberculosis patients and transported them to sanatoriums in southern Canada. Many of those patients never returned.

"As we were planning this survey using the ship, the memories of C.D. Howe have come back to people in communities," Egeland told CBC News on Monday. "There's been no closure, no healing, no group ceremony where we can collectively come together to recognize the loss and the tragedy and the suffering of families."

Egeland said she hopes Tuesday's event will emphasize a positive change in working relationships with Inuit.