Thank you.
Good morning, boozhoo, aniin.
I'm Dr. Nel Wieman. I'm originally from Mishi-baawitigong First Nation in Treaty 5 territory, which is part of the Anishinabe Nation. I serve as the chief medical officer at the First Nations Health Authority here in British Columbia.
I want to acknowledge that I'm speaking today from the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, the Squamish and the Tsleil-Waututh nations.
The FNHA is the first organization of its kind in Canada, created by and for first nations people in B.C. to support their health and wellness. Since before the toxic drug crisis was declared a public health emergency in 2016, we have been on the front lines, addressing the disproportionate impacts on first nations individuals and communities who have worsened historical and systemic inequities and intergenerational trauma.
Our role is to engage with communities, and we continue to expand our public health response to this emergency in collaboration with our health governance partners.
Our data for B.C. first nations people is alarming. In 2023, we lost 448 first nations people to toxic drug poisonings. This was a 10.3% increase from 2022. First nations people died at 6.1 times the rate of other B.C. residents. Women and young people are particularly overrepresented. Since 2016, we have lost 2,356 lives. These data are not just numbers. They represent our family members, our aunties, our youth, our elders. They are loved and missed. This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are vast numbers of other substance use-related harms, such as acquired brain injury, disconnection, and mental, emotional and spiritual distress.
Between 2015 and 2021, life expectancy for first nations people in B.C. fell by 7.1 years, driven both by the COVID-19 pandemic and the toxic drug public health emergency. This reveals the long-term losses and harms to our communities, and the urgent need for critical action. FNHA's response, to date, has been rooted in cultural safety, community engagement and innovative initiatives derived from shared learnings across our five regions. Our approach is community-driven and nation-based and supports a continuum of care that meets people where they are in their wellness journey. We have developed and funded culturally safe community-based programming grounded in harm reduction, which includes expanded OAT availability, establishing peer support groups and outreach teams, funding first nations-lead overdose prevention sites, and increasing access to harm reduction supplies in communities. We have also supported public education and awareness through our Not Just Naloxone training program and communications campaigns; expanded cultural programming, including through land-based healing initiatives, and funded rapid access to treatment and healing centres that incorporate culturally safe practices.
While progress has been made, we continue to face significant barriers. These include the inaccessibility of substance use services in communities, particularly in rural and remote areas, and the lack of long-term, sustained and flexible funding, including for cultural programming. We cannot ignore the role racism and discrimination play, and the lack of recognition of the intergenerational impacts of colonialism resulting in culturally unsafe health care. This is further compounded by the stigma surrounding substance use, which prevents people from accessing care.
In closing, the toxic drug crisis of 2024 is more deadly than it was nine years ago. The major driver of deaths is the increasingly unpredictable, dangerous and potentially lethal unregulated drug supply. The politicization of this emergency threatens progress, especially the backlash against proven evidence-based harm reduction measures that can save lives, and hits first nations people the hardest, deepening existing inequalities.
Every loss is felt deeply by families and communities, and we call upon our system partners to implement timely solutions that are first nations-led, culturally safe, trauma-informed and appropriately funded.
I thank you for your attention today.
Thank you, meegwetch.