Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
MP calls for emergency debate on TB rates
OTTAWA - NDP Health Critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis today demanded an emergency debate on tuberculosis after a new public health report shows rates of the disease among aboriginal Canadians is nearly six times that of non-aboriginals and climbing.
The Public Health Agency of Canada released some data from its "Tuberculosis in Canada 2008" report this week. The rate of tuberculosis among aboriginal Canadians hit 28.2 cases per 100,000 people in 2008, compared to 0.8 for non-aboriginal Canadians. In Nunavut the rate was an alarming 184.4.
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Wasylycia-Leis said the report builds on the award-winning series on tuberculosis done by Winnipeg Free Press reporter Jennifer Skerritt last fall, and together they point to a "shocking, distressing alarming" problem that the government seems to be tuning out.
"It’s not even being talked about," said Wasylycia-Leis. "If we don’t debate it and deal with it, who will?"
However Speaker Peter Milliken said Wasylycia-Leis’s request didn’t meet the requirements for an emergency debate, no matter how serious the issue. He suggested the NDP could use an opposition day motion in the coming weeks to introduce a debate on the subject.
Wasylycia-Leis is also seeking to have the House of Commons health committee launch a study of the issue.
The PHAC report shows Manitoba has the highest TB rate among the provinces at 11.7. But the cast majority of the cases in Manitoba are among aboriginal people.
There were just 16 cases in Manitoba diagnosed in 2008 in patients who were not aboriginal, including six in African-born immigrants.
There were 94 aboriginal patients newly diagnosed: 93 First Nations and one Métis.
The rate of TB among aboriginals in Manitoba is 51.2. Among non-aboriginals it is 1.2.
A spokeswoman for Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said the government has invested "significant funding to support on-reserve management of tuberculosis disease and infection" and is working with the provinces and territories to track and monitor and curb the spread of the disease.
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