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First Nations people more likely to die of drug overdose

New data released Thursday shows overdoses, deaths more prominent among First Nations
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Dr. Shannon McDonald, the deputy chief medical health officer for the First Nations Health Authority, released a report Thursday showing a disproportionate number of First Nations people were dying of drug overdose deaths. Photo Dan Toulgoet

New data released Thursday by B.C. health officials shows that First Nations people are three times more likely to die from a drug overdose than a non-First Nations person.

That finding along with data showing that First Nations people are five times more likely to overdose --and made up 14 per cent of all overdoses during a 23-month study period -- have prompted health officials and First Nations communities to develop strategies to reverse the trend.

The reasons for the disproportionate number of overdoses and deaths – only 3.4 per cent of B.C.’s population is First Nations – are many, as identified in preliminary findings compiled from hospital emergency rooms, the B.C.Coroners Service and other agencies in a report by the First Nations Health Authority: colonization, trauma, racism, poverty, abuse, mental health issues and a disconnection from family and culture.

“We are at the beginning of a challenging journey, and we are all committed to working together,” said Dr. Shannon McDonald, the deputy chief medical health officer for the First Nations Health Authority, who opened a news conference at the Bill Reid Gallery in downtown Vancouver. She was joined by provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall, Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe, Grand Chief Doug Kelly and Judy Darcy, the provincial Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

That journey includes increasing access in First Nations communities to the drug overdose-reversing drug naloxone, ensuring 911 services are available in all communities, collecting real-time data from the B.C. Coroners Service on overdose deaths and increasing awareness of the federal government’s new Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act, which provides immunity from simple possession charges for those who call 911.

McDonald said officials will also look at what type of harm reduction services such as overdose prevention sites and sanctioned injection sites are needed in communities, although she added that piece of the strategy is a sensitive one on reserves where residents have struggled with addiction issues.

“That harm reduction message is a new one to many of our communities, who have been abstinence-focused for a very long time,” she said. “So we have a lot of work to do to make sure people are comforting and supportive of the people in their families and communities who are using. We want to increase access to safe use sites, either overdose prevention sites or supervised consumption sites.”

The report released Thursday focused on data related to “overdose events” collected between Jan. 1, 2015 and Nov. 30. 2016. That time period showed First Nations people overdosed 1,903 times. Data collected from Jan. 1, 2015 to July 31, 2016 indicated 60 First Nations people died of an overdose.

McDonald and others acknowledged the data wasn’t up to date and didn’t identify what specific communities or areas of the province were more directly affected by the overdose crisis, although coroners service data has broken down number of deaths by region, but not by a person’s background.

Vancouver, however, has a large Indigenous population with an overrepresentation of homeless people suffering from mental health and addictions, as recent homeless counts have shown. A total of 179 people in Vancouver died of a suspected drug overdose in Vancouver in the first five months of this year.

The data released Thursday only includes First Nations people who are registered with Indian status. So non-status, Metis and Inuit people were not captured in the data. Part of the problem is the coroners service did not begin recording a person’s ethnicity until June 2016.

“So now the coroners -- at every reported death -- one of the questions they have to ask is: Did this individual identify as Aboriginal, Indigenous?” Lapointe said.  “And if so, did they identify as First Nations, Inuit or Metis? And that information we can then provide to our partners in the First Nations health authority to really find meaningful information.”

Kelly, of the Sto:lo Tribal Council, told reporters that trauma has existed in First Nations communities long before the opioid overdose crisis, which has claimed 640 lives in B.C. in the first five months of this year. Alcoholism and suicide continue to plague Indigenous communities, he said.

“All of those issues have similar causes -- it’s unresolved trauma, unresolved grief,” said Kelly, who added that he was hopeful of tackling the challenges ahead now that the B.C. government and the First Nations health authority were working together to “transform what I call the sickness system to a wellness system.”

Other statistics in the report showed the overdose crisis had equally affected First Nations men (52 per cent) and women (48 per cent) in data collected related to “overdose events.” The same data for non-First Nations people showed 71 per cent men and 29 per cent women.

Overdose deaths in B.C. have predominantly occurred in Vancouver, Surrey  and Victoria, which had a supervised injection site approved by the federal government Thursday. More data on total deaths for the province is expected to be released Friday by the coroners service.

mhowell@vancourier.com

@Howellings