The tribal council representing 14 First Nations along the west coast of Vancouver Island is declaring a state of emergency over the opioid crisis, which is killing their members and leaving others with mental health struggles.
Cloy-e-iis Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, says not enough is being done and the nations need help from governments and health authorities to devise their own solutions for fighting what she calls a “war on trauma” in dealing with the colonial past.
"Funerals that we used to see once a month have now gone to two or three a week," she said.
Figures from the First Nations Health Authority show Indigenous people died from drug poisonings at more than six times the rate of other B.C. residents last year. Sayers said Port Alberni is second only to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in the number of drug deaths per capita.
"That is shocking."
Sayers says First Nations need funding to support overwhelmed workers in their communities and to build detox and rehabilitation centres. She said it is taking too long to have adequate detox units available on the West Coast.
Chief Councillor Wahmeesh Ken Watts of the Tseshaht First Nation says not enough is being done, and British Columbians should ask candidates running in this October’s provincial election, what they plan to do to help.
Watts displayed photos of seven people from Tseshaht First Nation who have died due to the toxic drug crisis. "I need to ask people, have you ever heard the cry of a mother and a father who've lost their loved one? These aren't just statistics. These are real people we have lost in our communities," he said, his voice breaking with emotion.
More than two dozen members of Ahousaht First Nation, many wearing shirts saying "Justice for Lennox," filled the board room in a former residential school building at the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council for the declaration. The family members were there to raise awareness of a 20-year-old man who died in a drug-related incident in Ahousaht over the Labour Day weekend. His death was one of two young people in the same weekend.
Curtis Dick, speaking on behalf of the family, said they support the NTC's call for more help. "We don't ever want this to happen to anyone else at all."
Ahousaht Elected Chief Councillor Naasathluk John Rampanen doubled up on Sayers' call for more funding for First Nations to deal with the toxic drug crisis in their own communities. "The state of crisis and emergency that we're in has been in effect for many, many years, falling on deaf ears with the provincial and federal governments," he said.
"We know that the solutions and the healing pathway is there for us, that we have those solutions within our own families."
Sayers says a meeting was held with government and health officials to discuss the concerns and another meeting is being planned with the federal government.
Rampanen implored government officials to come to Ahousaht and see for themselves the need for urgency. "We definitely open our doors to those who are the decision makers, those who have the authority and the ability to make movement relatively quickly with regard to addressing these issues," he said.
The Ahousaht First Nation declared its own state of emergency two weeks ago after losing two people in different circumstances over Labour Day weekend.
Archie Little of Nuchatlaht, also an NTC director, said it's time for law enforcement and the courts to take a hard line on those who are supplying drugs to communities. "We have to accept that overdose is murder," Little said. "We've got to fix those people that are benefiting from the making and sale of very toxic drugs."
In Ottawa on Thursday, Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns called on the federal government to provide mental health resources after the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council triggered a state of emergency. The NTC applied in the spring for funding through the Substance Use and Addictions Program, however Johns said they were denied.
"Communities across the country are in crisis," Johns said. "They don't have the resources they need to support people struggling with mental health, trauma and substance use disorders. But the Liberals keep delaying support."
— With files from The Canadian Press
