A new program in Nunavik is helping Inuit community members take a more active role in public health, especially in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), which continues to affect many people in the region. In February, five local trainees from three communities attended a training session in Inukjuak to become public health officers (PHOs). These officers will work closely with nurses to support TB patients and raise awareness in their communities.
The training was led by Indigenous and allied researchers from the McGill University Health Centre, including nurse Glenda Sandy, Dr. Faiz Ahmad Khan, a lung specialist who works in Nunavik and Montreal and member of the RESP Program, and Dr. Ben Geboe, an Indigenous social worker and researcher and Dr. Margaret Becklake Felllow. Together with team members, they created a TB guide based on conversations with nearly 150 community members. The guide includes medical information as well as tools to help PHOs talk to and support people in a way that respects local culture and experiences.
Dr. Geboe, who has worked with Indigenous communities in Montreal and New York, emphasized the importance of mutual aid and community knowledge. Many of the new PHOs have personal experience with TB and are passionate about helping others in their own language—Inuktitut.
The program is grounded in the idea of self-determination—supporting Nunavimmiut to shape their own healthcare. The team hopes to expand this approach to other public health issues in the future. As one community elder said, the important thing isn’t whether someone accepts treatment, but that they are always offered care with respect. That message—about dignity and ongoing engagement—is at the heart of this initiative.
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Nunavimmiut public health officers offer TB outreach in Nunavik, Quebec. By Gillian Woodford, Communications Officer, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. McGill e-News. March 24, 2025
Nunavimmiut public health officers offer TB outreach in Nunavik. This World TB Day, we check in on a recent training session in Inukjuak by Indigenous researchers and health professionals for Inuit community members. The Institute News. March 24, 2025