Sask. Health Authority defends tuberculosis response, management

Tuberculosis remains an issue in northern Saskatchewan. It has health officials actively trying to slow the spread. Jasmine Pelletier reports.

The head of the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) says health professionals are doing their best to diagnose and treat tuberculosis across the province.

Dr. Saqib Shahab, the chief medical officer of the SHA, answered questions Thursday at the legislature – after the Saskatchewan NDP accused the province of hiding a tuberculosis outbreak in the province’s far north.

Citing information acquired through a freedom of information request – the Official Opposition said a total of 22 cases of tuberculosis were reported between Jan. 1, 2025, and Feb. 28, 2026, across Prince Albert and the surrounding areas.

MLA Leroy Laliberte asked why the government did not disclose the cases – citing a public health risk.

“I wonder why the government would not have made that public for people to know just as a formal warning,” he told reporters Thursday.

Shahab highlighted the nature of managing the disease.

“Tuberculosis, as you know, is something that many of us don’t get to see in our lifetimes,” Shahab told reporters. “Thankfully, it’s very uncommon, but it is more frequent in two groups of individuals.”

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According to Shahab, the respiratory illness is most common in those who have immigrated to Canada from parts of the world where the disease is still common and within Canada’s Indigenous population, especially in northern Saskatchewan.

Tuberculosis is treatable and curable with a round of oral antibiotics lasting for up to six months. Those being treated are no longer infectious after the first two weeks of treatment.

The SHA partners with Indigenous Services Canada and the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority in its treatment and contact tracing efforts.

Prior to the advent of antibiotics, those suffering from tuberculosis were removed from their communities and treated in sanatoriums. Shahab says those treating the disease have to be aware of the history and the potential for intergenerational fear and stigma.

“I think we have to recognize that because it impacts Indigenous people, because it impacts new Canadians who already may feel vulnerable, it has to be done in a very sensitive way,” Shahab explained.

Shahab concluded by assuring the general public that there is currently no high risk of tuberculosis exposure – reiterating that the disease requires prolonged contact to infect – a case which is rare given the province’s contact tracing efforts.

Laliberte disagreed with the assessment.

“Some of the people that travel from the far north are [spending] 12 to15 hours in a vehicle. So if they pick that up, and then they end up going into the far north, they’re obviously going to take that back into their communities.”