Mr. Speaker, today is World TB Day, an international call to action, to mobilize political commitment to reduce the burden of tuberculosis. Yet, today, TB is Canada's forgotten disease.
Aboriginal people in Canada face a third world risk of the disease. The tuberculosis rate among status Indians is 31 times higher than that of non-aboriginal Canadians. The rate among Inuit is 186 times that of Canadian born non-aboriginals, equivalent to the rate in sub-Saharan Africa.
This information from the Public Health Agency of Canada comes as the Prime Minister is preparing to make child and maternal health in the developing world a priority at the G8 summit this year.
The rate of tuberculosis among Canada's aboriginal peoples is an embarrassment that demands a real government strategy, the what, by when and how and resources.
We call upon the Prime Minister to take immediate action on this 100% preventable disease.