For the 0.44 release, we will be making an attempt to close critical bugs in the bug tracker. However, first those bugs need to be prioritized.
We have a system for prioritizing bugs, and it's pretty straightforward to do, even by someone with minimal technical experience. Thus this makes an excellent task for someone who wants to contribute to Inkscape but haven't found other tasks they're comfortable doing.
Basically, you go through the bug tracker and review bugs set to priority 5 (the default). If it involves a crash, data loss, or other serious issues, mark it critical (9). Otherwise, mark it 6 if it looks important, or 3 if it looks like a lower priority issue.
If you're interested in helping in this area, contact me either on IRC or by email, and I can set up your access and help you get started!
Thanks, Bryce