Federal Health Minister Tony Clement has announced a new Inuit office in Ottawa that will focus on addressing the unique health challenges Inuit face across the country, from epidemics to health-care access in remote communities.

Clement and Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), agreed Wednesday to a joint work plan to be developed by a task force made up of Health Canada and ITK officials. That work plan, which will look at ways to improve Inuit health, is expected to be completed and presented to the minister in the fall.

Simon said Inuit have been lobbying Ottawa for years to recognize their unique health issues, adding that until now they have been receiving health services that are really geared towards southern people.

"We need access to quality services if we are to address the issues that are faced by the communities," she said Wednesday.

Simon said examples of issues the centre will tackle will include epidemics — such as the 1918 flu outbreak that killed a third of the Inuit population in Labrador — and the lack of health services in remote Inuit communities.

Inuit mothers in northern Quebec, for example, must fly to Montreal to give birth, she said.

Clement said finding solutions may take time: it will take six months to set up the office, then more time to study what improvements should be made to health services.

"Before you act, you have to collect some data and have the conversation in a way that is sensitive to the particular needs of the population," he said.

"But at the same time, I don't want this to be a talk fest. I think we actually want to get to some solutions."