Indigenous people in Northern Alberta began to be exposed to tuberculosis (TB) in large numbers in the nineteenth century (CMAJ article): the creation of the reserve system facilitated its spread in a population that lacked an “ancestral exposure” (CMAJ, p. 1026). In 1936, of the 332 persons who passed away from TB in Alberta, 49% were First Nations or Mètis: considering the proportion of the population that was Indigenous peoples at that time, the fatality rate was quite high. Thus, if an Indigenous person contracted TB, it was considered very serious.

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