Tuberculosis. It's airborne. It's contagious. And for decades, it meant medical apartheid. But for Indigenous communities across Canada, TB is not a thing of the past. In this four-part series, hear from Indigenous policy leaders, nurses, researchers and community leaders about Indigenous-led solutions - what works and what doesn't - for treating and curing TB. One Vision, Many Paths: Indigenous Solutions for Tuberculosis and HIV comes to you this spring, wherever you get your podcasts.

One Vision, Many Paths is recorded and produced on Treaty Six territory. It is brought to you by CAAN (Communities, Alliances & Networks), a nonprofit organization that generates community-driven responses to HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and other sexually transmitted and blood borne infections through resources and support for Inuit, Métis and First Nations people.  Funding for this podcast was made possible by ViiV Healthcare's Community Education and Services Grant. 

What is tuberculosis still doing here in the 21st century? Although we no longer call it ‘consumption’, TB is not a disease of the past – especially for Indigenous peoples across Canada. Today, the rate of TB infections on First Nations is 40 times higher than that of Canadians living off-reserve. Go further north into Canada’s Arctic, and that rate skyrockets to an infection rate 300 times higher for Inuit Nunangat. In our first episode of One Vision, Many Paths, we look at the reasons for this.

Host Jen Quesnel sits down with Renée Masching, the Director of Research for CAAN, to discuss how social factors like poverty, crowded living conditions and food insecurity make it easy for TB to spread. Drawing from her decades of experience working in the HIV/AIDS movement, Masching shares what we have to learn from traditional ways of knowing and doing when addressing TB in First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities. Later on, Trevor Stratton, CAAN’s Indigenous Leadership Policy Manager, shares the four universal steps that are essential to treat and cure tuberculosis. 

From forced removals from their communities, and being sent to sanitoriums in a de-facto medical apartheid system, the legacy of TB treatment in Indigenous communities in Canada is a dark one. In this episode, Indigenous survivors share their stories of hurt – and healing – from tuberculosis.

We hear about the 1950s and 1960s, when Indigenous people infected with TB were evacuated hundreds of kilometres from their communities on ships and planes, with no information about where they were going, or how long they’d have to stay. Tracing the blood memory of TB through lived experiences, we hear from Ralph Olson, a two-spirit man living with HIV in Toronto; Ida Lemaigre, a Métis alderwoman advocating for TB education in her community; Dr. Ben Geboe, a social worker in New York; and Igah Sanguya, an Inuit health worker in Clyde River, Nunavut. Drawing from their own experiences with TB, they offer encouragement and advice for any patient who is newly diagnosed and undergoing treatment.