By: Julia Magsombol
Local Initiative Reporter
According to the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), Indigenous Peoples died at six times the rate compared to non-First Nations people in 2023.
The statistics showed that it had increased by 24.7 per cent compared to 2022.
Dr. Nel Wieman, chief medical officer for the FNHA, said more than 400 First Nations people died due to toxic drugs last year.
“It’s painful to talk about these numbers because they’re not just numbers; they’re people who are loved and people who have potential futures ahead of them,” said Wieman.
Several factors lead Indigenous Peoples to use drugs – and one factor is childhood trauma.
Based on Canadian statistics, “Indigenous Peoples self-reported experiencing some form of childhood physical and sexual maltreatment before the age of 15.” Read https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/jf-pf/2017/docs/july03.pdf.
Another factor could be inter-generational trauma, which occurs in this situation when the effects of trauma are passed down among generations of different Indigenous families.
The historical trauma experienced by Indigenous Peoples is passed from generation to generation due to residential schools, land dispossession, loss of spiritual practices, language and culture.
Most of the time, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance use “can be outward manifestations of inter-generational trauma and unresolved historical grief.”
According to the FNHA, First Nations people make up just over three per cent of the population of British Columbia, but there were 17.7 per cent of toxic drug deaths in the first six months of 2023.
Last year the BC Coroners Service said there were a total of 2,511 suspected illicit drug deaths, an average of nearly seven deaths per day.
The demographics of toxic drug deaths vary from men to women as well. First Nations women are impacted by the toxic drug crisis. The death rate is 11.9 times higher than non-First Nations women in B.C. The rate of toxic drug deaths among First Nations men was 4.6 times the rate for non-First Nations men.
Government of Alberta research indicates that from 2013 to 2017, females represented a higher proportion of opioid dispensing from community pharmacies in First Nations and non-First Nations people.
“We need to keep people alive so they can consider their choices,” said Wieman.
