Thank you, sir.
First of all, I would like to acknowledge that we are on the unceded territory of the Algonquin people, and I'd like to acknowledge the Creator, creation, the prayers, and the protocols.
Today I will accommodate the time pressures. However, Mr. Chair, I do want to make an initial note that these are long-standing issues in our first nation communities throughout all regions across this country. Those who are suffering from this affliction of opioid addiction are living within a prison of physical and psychological torture from this addiction, and I think we need to ensure that we afford the time necessary. I will, however, accommodate the time pressures within this House today. I will ensure that I afford time for my colleagues, who are also presenting.
I'm presenting here as the Ontario Regional Chief, as a member of the AFN executive who holds the portfolio for health, and as the chair of the Chiefs Committee on Health at the Assembly of First Nations. In fact, I represent health issues for 633 first nations across the country.
I'm here because the opioid crisis occurring in Canada is also a crisis that is occurring in many of our first nation communities. Prescription drug abuse is increasing exponentially, and communities are overwhelmed with incidents of illicit drug abuse.
The use and abuse of substances has consistently been a top priority for first nations people as well as their leadership. In fact, a national survey of first nations communities completed between 2008 and 2010 reported that alcohol and drug use and abuse were considered to be the number one challenge to community wellness faced by on-reserve communities, at 82%, followed by housing at 70% and employment at 65%.
Prescription drug abuse is exacerbated by widespread violence, endemic poverty, emotional abuse, and the lasting intergenerational traumas of colonization. The psychological and social effects of residential schools have also contributed enormously to the level of addiction in first nations communities, impacting people of all ages. First nations youth are especially vulnerable to the effects of substance abuse.
The question then becomes, what can be done? More action is needed, and that's what we're here to address today.
In order to reduce prescription drug abuse in first nations communities, the decolonization of the health care system is essential. It is imperative to fully implement the “First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework”. The framework outlines opportunities to build on community strengths and control of resources in order to improve existing mental wellness programming for first nations communities. This includes: community development, ownership, and capacity building; a quality care system and competent service delivery; collaboration with partners; enhanced flexible funding; and, ensuring culture is at the centre of mental wellness and must be understood as an important social determinant of health.
Again, we do have the work. The continuum has been a culmination of several years' work, and we have a document here that we can leave for the committee members.
Full implementation means increasing the amount and flexibility of resources in order to increase capacity, ensure quality care systems, and competent delivery so that all first nations have access to the essential basket of services that make up the continuum of care. A full and adequately funded continuum of services also includes long-term funding for community-based prescription drug abuse programs, such as opioid substitution therapy with buprenorphine, along with land-based treatment and other cultural treatments.
I want to note, Mr. Chair and committee members, that we are probably experts in the experience of alternative use to opiates in our communities. One thing I must underscore, however, is that we're finding that a lot of our remote communities don't have the amount of services that other regions do. In remote and rural territories in other parts of Canada, there simply are not enough resources.
What's happening is that you're almost getting to the point of a solution with the alternatives to opiates, but there's no follow-up. There are no investments being made, and that is really throwing good money after bad. It's actually perpetuating the ongoing and torturous cycle of addiction. What happens is that if there's no aftercare, no completion of that continuum of aftercare, then you're not getting the results you need, and it's complicating the issues.
One of the things we're looking at, Mr. Chair, is that we definitely need to look at the opiate addiction from a.... If you think about what is done in a crisis situation from a medical perspective, they triage that situation and look at all aspects. They look at the environment, the situation, and the injury, and, in this case, addiction being the injury, they are having to fully address in a very specific way that is meaningful at that community level. In the north, there's a very different situation. We do need results-based investments. That investment spending has to include land-based programming. It has to include aftercare for those communities in the north.
With regard to the mental wellness continuum framework, the creation of a community-centred and culturally driven health promotion framework is essential for building effective alternatives to the current treatment system. Ideally, a new system would enable first nations to integrate their values, beliefs, and ways of knowing into programming, making culture a foundation of health care and promotion. It is a plan that provides a broad framework and allows communities to build programs and services based on their unique needs that are responsive to service gaps that exist.
I generally like to complete my presentations, Mr. Chair, but I do have with me Carol Hopkins from the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation, who is an expert in the field. She's somebody we rely on in first nations across the country. I'd like to afford her a few minutes of my time to provide some remarks.
Thank you.