A group of Inuit tuberculosis (TB) sanatorium survivors, accompanied by Inuit youths, will visit Hamilton on an intergenerational healing journey from May 4th to 8th, 2025.
Between the 1940s and 1970s, the Canadian government sent thousands of Inuit for tuberculosis treatment to southern TB sanatoriums. Most received no explanation why they were being sent away and did not provide consent. The evacuation split families, leaving many for years without information about their loved one’s fate. Inuit patients who died were often buried without their families’ knowledge. This and other harmful colonial policies have contributed to intergenerational trauma in Inuit communities, to an ongoing mental health crisis, and to mistrust in the health and education systems. The experience is also one of the root causes behind the staggering TB epidemic in Nunavut - with TB rates among Inuit 300 times the rate compared to Canadian-born, non-Indigenous people.
Around 1200 Inuit were treated for tuberculosis in the former Mountain Sanatorium in Hamilton. Those who died at the sanatorium were buried at Woodlands Cemetery.
In 2023, Inuit survivors of the Mountain Sanatorium, accompanied by several youths, visited Hamilton on a historic healing journey, organized by SeeChange Initiative, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., and Ilisaqsavik Society. After the visit, which received major media attention, the city promised to set up a plaque at the site of the former sanatorium and add Inuktitut to the Sanatorium Road sign, and the McMaster University archive returned historic photos to Nunavut.
During this second journey of TB sanatorium survivors and youths to Hamilton, the group will again visit the site of the former sanatorium, where city representatives will present a mock-up of the commemorative plaque for the site, as well as the Woodland Cemetery. They will hold healing circles, and view the Chedoke Inuit Art collection at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. We are grateful to Dr. Vanessa Watts of McMaster University’s Indigenous Studies Department who will host the group to view archival material connected to the TB sanatorium history. She leads a research project that explores how residential schools and the forced displacement of Inuit to TB sanatoriums were part of the same colonial process of assimilation. Dr.Watts also helped arrange a private visit to the Woodland Cultural Centre, on the site of the old Mohawk Institute residential school, where the Inuit visitors will learn about the impact of colonialism on Indigenous peoples in the Hamilton region.
The second healing journey of Inuit TB sanatorium survivors and youths to Hamilton was made possible because of the generous support from the Hamilton Community Foundation, the Sidhu Singh Family Foundation, the United Way of Halton and Hamilton, and Dreamcatcher Charity.
SeeChange is also grateful to the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the City of Hamilton, Circle of Beads, and many others for their kind support and warm welcome during this healing journey.
We are thrilled that Inuit-owned media company Taqqat Productions, funded by Qikiqitani Inuit Association, will document this little-known history and the healing journey through the voices of the Elders and youths, so that the next generation of Inuit will learn from their experiences.
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