Nakurmiik. Thank you. I'm glad that I was able to get on the call.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is the national organization representing 65,000 Inuit in Canada, the majority of whom live in Inuit Nunangat, our homeland, and that encompasses 51 communities over possibly a third of Canada's land mass. All but two of those communities are fly-in, fly-out communities exclusively during the winter months and only a handful of those communities are serviced by marine ferry during the summer.
ITK is governed by the elected leaders of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Nunavut Tunngavik, Makivik Corporation and Nunatsiavut Government. These four representational organizations and governments are Inuit rights holders under section 35 of the Constitution, having negotiated comprehensive Inuit-Crown land claim agreements between 1975 and 2005.
It is therefore appropriate that the Crown engaged Inuit rights holders in the COVID-19 response. ITK has helped facilitate regional engagement with the Government of Canada throughout this process through our national governance structures. There's a very large gap between Inuit and non-Inuit Canadians on key measures of importance to health such as housing, income, food security and access to medical care.
A few key examples in relation to COVID-19 are that 52% of Inuit in Inuit Nunangat live in overcrowded homes whereas only 9% of non-indigenous people in Inuit Nunangat do. The median income level for Inuit in Inuit Nunangat is $23,000 whereas the median income for non-indigenous people in our homeland is $92,000, which is about four times greater. In many of our communities, individuals are often multiple flights and days away from emergency or intensive care, as we have health centres instead of hospitals in the majority of our communities.
COVID-19 poses a particularly high risk to the health and well-being of Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat and also in urban centres. It's crucial to understand the unique and considerable vulnerabilities that create these negative outcomes in both illness and disruption in service in Inuit communities. We have been working with the federal government throughout the last six to eight weeks in regards to an Inuit-specific distinctions-based response.
There are three considerations that I'd like to discuss today. The first is in relation to public health measures to prevent the circulation of COVID-19 in our communities, and it starts with testing. We struggled with the limited availability of testing and the long turnaround times. This has also been our experience in our TB epidemic. There are significant negative consequences in not having immediate results or results within a short period of time.
The quick identification of the presence of COVID-19 in our communities would then be key to our response, as it is in any community in the country. There were daily flights prior to the restrictions that have been put in place in our regions due to COVID-19, but now there aren't regular flights. People might get tested but there might not be a flight for a number of days and then that test also waits in a queue once it gets to a southern centre for processing.
The rate of active cases and the data that we use to respond to this crisis depend on rapid access testing. We commend the federal government for moving quickly to acquire point-of-care and near-care tests and also prioritizing remote communities for the placement of these tests. We understand that Inuit communities are a key consideration in this national response, and that the federal government understands that there is an urgent need for these point-of-care and near-care tests.
Also, with respect to Inuit-specific public health guidance, we've done really well so far to minimize COVID-19 and its entry into Inuit Nunangat communities. Two regions, Nunavut and Nunatsiavut, have not registered a confirmed case yet, and there are just a handful of cases in Nunavik and a couple in Inuvialuit region.
We need to ensure that we are working as closely as we possibly can with provinces, territories, our public health and data systems, and the federal government all the way through. We have an Inuit public health task group that facilitates this work.
We commend all parties, from the Public Health Agency of Canada to Health Canada to Indigenous Services Canada, and the provinces and territories in which Inuit live as they try to work through a number of challenges that are grey areas of governance. Sometimes there are processes that don't require Inuit participation through legislation, but we are living in a time of reconciliation, and the more information and open communication there is between Inuit rights holders and public governments, the better, in relation to this crisis. We see that through the shared health promotion strategies that we want to invest in and help deliver for our communities.
Inuit communities are known to have high rates of risk factors for poor outcomes in relation to COVID-19 based on things like our smoking rate, poor nutrition, poverty and the active cases of tuberculosis in our communities. The support for programs that contribute to a reduction in smoking rates and improve food security and nutrition is key to protecting Inuit from COVID-19. The ongoing shared ambition between Inuit and the Government of Canada to eliminate tuberculosis by 2030 also comes into play when we're dealing with COVID-19. There are many different synergies in the types of responses, especially in consideration of things like housing.
We'll continue to work with the federal government to provide funding to Inuit representation organizations that allows them to implement strategies to improve food security, enhance hygiene and promote physical distancing in Inuit communities, including on the land programs, elder support and increased access to water service and cleaning supplies.
The second point is in relation to health systems. It is a necessity that our health systems continue to function with COVID-19. We need to ensure that the connections remain strong between Inuit communities and the service agreements that jurisdictions have with southern care facilities in relation to COVID-19. We would work directly with the federal government for any immediate point-of-care considerations for COVID-19 responses if there were many cases in our communities. We have talked with the federal government about possibly employing federal resources and military or navy resources in relation to a response. Hopefully we can continue to have those strong connections between the care provided to us in the south and that provided in regional centres in Inuit Nunangat and in other communities in the COVID-19 response.
We're also concerned about the shortage of drugs, supplies and staff. There are many different HR considerations, especially considering that many of our communities are staffed by only one or two nurses at a time and that there is a huge push for resources in the health care response in the south. That consideration is top of mind. There are also things like drugs for tuberculosis, such as the BCG vaccine, and worldwide shortages in relation to that. There are a number of different considerations there that we continue to work with the federal government on in relation to the COVID-19 response.
The third point is in relation to air transportation. ITK has made it clear that we see air transportation as an essential service. There are no other ways to get to our communities at this time of year, and the way our health care system and all essential services flow in and out of our communities depends upon our air carriers. In other parts of the year we will have major considerations for sea-lift resupply and cargo traffic, but at this time it cannot be overstated how important air links are. Federal support for those air links across Inuit Nunangat should remain intact.
The last thing we want is for any of our existing airlines to not be able to continue to operate. That would place a massive and considerable risk on those populations in our communities over and above the already difficult challenges that we face.
We'll continue to work with the Inuit Public Health Task Group and the Government of Canada, but any of the work we do, whether it's with you in this committee or anywhere else, will be focused on an evidence-based globally informed and Inuit-specific response.
We look forward to working with you under those terms to ensure that Inuit are not adversely affected even more than we already are in relation to the COVID-19 response.