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IQALUIT, Nunavut — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shed tears while he apologized on Friday for the way Inuit in northern Canada were treated for tuberculosis in the mid-20th century, calling it colonial and misguided.

Trudeau delivered an apology to the Inuit on behalf of the federal government — words that prompted many in the room to openly weep.

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“Today, I am here to offer an official apology for the federal government’s management of tuberculosis in the Arctic from the 1940s to the 1960s,” he said. “Many of you know all too well how this policy played itself out.”

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Trudeau acknowledged that many people with TB died after being removed from their families and communities and taken on gruelling journeys south on ships, trains and aircraft.

“We are sorry,” Trudeau said. “We are sorry for forcing you from your families, for not showing you the respect and care you deserved. We are sorry for your pain. To the people whose loved ones were taken away, we are sorry. We are sorry for breaking what is most precious — the love of a home.”