Many people still haven’t heard of this project that has been in the works since about 2008, so I wanted to make sure to put this information on the website.
If you’re Inuit looking for loved ones taken south during the TB era of the 1940s to 1960s, you might be able to find information through Nanilavut – “Let’s Find Them“. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. asked the Federal Government to do this and since then, Indigenous and Northern Affairs staff have worked with different organizations to amass about 1 million documents and stories connected to about 4500 different Inuit patients.
My understanding is 5240 Inuit (from CBC article below) were sent south during this time, so there isn’t information on everyone yet. Also, the information on individual cases can be incomplete.
But it’s something!
Natan Obed of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) says the plan is to have Inuit make requests through their respective Inuit land claim organizations, which will then prompt staff with the federal government to search the database. They can’t make it all public because of privacy issues and the sensitive nature of medical records.
According to recent media stories like the one from Nunavut News below, they expect to launch the program later this year.
More information:
- http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/inuit-tb-database-1.4331163
- http://nunavutnews.com/nunavut-news/federal-apology-expected-to-accompany-nanilavut-launch/
ghosts of camsell 