The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council on Vancouver Island declared a state of emergency on Thursday due to the ongoing drug crisis.
Following the tragic deaths of two Ahousaht First Nation members and many others in Nuu-chah-nulth communities, the council said the current mental health and opioid crisis continues to rage through First Nations communities at six times the rate of other B.C. residents.
Data released by the First Nations Health Authority in April 2023 showed that First Nations people died at 5.9 times the rate of other residents in 2022, with 373 toxic drug-poisoning deaths in total. That was a 6.3-per-cent increase from 2021.
“We haven’t gathered statistics yet, but we do know that at funerals that used to be once a month have now gone to two to three a week,” Judith Sayers, member of the Hupacasath First Nation and president of the council, told Global News on Thursday.
“And that’s from one of our people who conduct the services. So I don’t have any numbers yet. But, you know, it’s been impactful.”
The council is now calling on the provincial and federal governments and health authorities to resource strategies that take swift and meaningful action to combat the drug crisis.
“We’ve been asking for a detox and a cancellation centre for a couple of years,” Sayers added. “We’re not there. You know, we just really need to push the governments into responding and providing these services that we need.”
She said they believe solutions should be Nuu-chah-nulth-led and developed but they need those official agencies to support the work they are going to do.
“We’ve seen British Columbia declare a state of emergency eight years ago on this,” Sayers said.
“And what has changed? So maybe it’s time to change hands. We just want to lead it.”
B.C. Premier David Eby said on Thursday that Indigenous communities have been hard hit by the toxic drug crisis in the province.
“First Nations are grieving right now and we will provide them with the support they need around counselling and additional avenues of delivering care in a community where people are struggling,” he said.
Eby added that the province is also supporting the First Nations Health Authority with additional treatment sites.
“But this is real and this is right now for Nuu-chah-nulth so we’ll make sure that we’re there for them with the support that they need,” he said.
Sayers said attending the funeral of a young person is devastating to so many communities and the loss and the grief is felt across those communities.
“Our communities are very connected to one another,” she said.
“And it’s not just Nuu-chah-nulth. We have a lot of intermarriages amongst the First Nations. So, you know, one death just affects so many people.
“And, you know, especially if people think, ‘Well, we should have done something’ or ‘Why wasn’t something done?’ You know, it makes it even harder to deal with that death.”