Indigenous Services Canada and Inuit Tapariit Kanatami – “On World Tuberculosis (TB) Day 2021, we reaffirm our joint commitment to improving the health of Inuit across Inuit Nunangat through our TB reduction and elimination milestones…Persistently high rates of TB across Inuit Nunangat are a symptom of health disparities, which are rooted in colonization. The COVID-19 pandemic has further demonstrated the depth and breadth of inequities faced by Inuit communities that create unjust health outcomes for Inuit.

Adequate, ongoing and targeted actions and investments are needed to develop and support the social and economic conditions necessary for healthy, TB-free Inuit communities. Key areas of focus include:

1. Acknowledging and honouring the unique history and impacts of the TB epidemic on Inuit through continued support of healing projects such as the Nanilavut Initiative in accordance with the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Calls for Justice, 16.46.
2. Confronting gaps in social determinants of Inuit health that have perpetuated TB in Inuit communities, including housing, food security and nutrition, mental wellness, equitable and culturally relevant education, and access to culturally safe health services.
3. Addressing social and economic infrastructure gaps through major new investments in infrastructure, including the creation of an Inuit Nunangat Infrastructure Fund to accelerate the distribution of resources required to close the infrastructure gap, as well as to achieve the goals of the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework and uphold Canada’s human rights obligations.
4. Poverty reduction through development of a model of basic income in partnership with Inuit that targets those living around or below a poverty line established using regional and community cost of living and income indicators.
5. Minimizing major data, research and policy gaps throughout Inuit Nunangat, especially those that impact health, and specifically TB, through the support of Inuit-led data partnerships.