Aboriginals in Canada face ‘Third World’-level risk of tuberculosis

Risk of infection among natives is 31 times greater than non-natives; for Inuit, risk is 186 times greater
Bill Curry
Ottawa — From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
It’s been more than 100 years since Peter Bryce, former chief medical officer at Indian Affairs, sounded the alarm over shockingly high rates of deadly tuberculosis in government-funded Indian residential schools.

Now, a century later, TB continues to be a major concern in aboriginal communities. A new federal report reveals the TB rate among status Indians to be 31 times higher than that of non-aboriginal Canadians. Among the most susceptible of aboriginal populations are the Inuit, for whom the TB rate is 186 times that of Canadian-born non-aboriginals. Read More…