Exploring Theme: "Ongoing Health Crisis"

The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press – Williams Lake, B.C. – A spike in overdose deaths in the six British Columbia nations that make up the Tsilhqot’in National Government has prompted the chiefs to declare a local state of emergency. The Cariboo area nation says in a statement that toxic drugs combined with the...

Health officials are working with First Nation that declared a state of emergency following the deaths of 11 of its members, many of them youths, in the past two months, premier says. An aerial shot of Tsulquate reserve on March 1. VIA CHEK NEWS NationTalk: Times Colonist – Premier David Eby says health officials are...

‘They’re not just numbers, they’re people,’ says FNHA chief medical officer CBC Indigenous: First Nations people continued to die from toxic drugs at a higher rate than non-First Nations people in British Columbia in the first six months of 2023, according to the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA).  First Nations people died at six times the rate of non-First...

by ahnationtalk on August 31, 2023 NationTalk: (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/ Vancouver, B.C. – Today, UBCIC grieves with thousands of families devastated by the overdose crisis and urges municipal, provincial, and federal governments to put aside their lethal political squabbling and take urgent, comprehensive, and coordinated action to save lives and support First Nations...

The First Nations Health Authority has unveiled a plan to curb the deadly toll. Odette Auger TodayTheTyee.ca Odette Auger (Sagamok Anishnawbek) is a freelance reporter whose work has appeared in APTN, IndigiNews, Watershed Sentinel and Asparagus Magazine. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. The Tyee: The B.C. First Nations Health Authority...

373 First Nations people died from illicit toxic drugs in B.C. in 2022: Toxic Drug Data report  CBC News: First Nations people are disproportionately represented in toxic drug poisoning deaths in British Columbia, according to new data from the First Nations Health Authority. First Nations members represented 16.4 per cent of toxic drug deaths in B.C. in...

Distance a barrier to accessing addictions treatment, say communities Members of B.C.’s most northern communities are saying they need more resources to deal with the impacts of the province’s drug crisis, at a forum in Prince George, B.C., this week. More than 200 First Nations leaders and health-care workers met to talk about harm reduction,...

First Nations people die from illicit drug toxicity at 5 times the rate of B.C.’s general population CBC News: As of last week Avis O’Brien (N’alaga) marked 16 years in recovery from addiction.  “I was on the Downtown Eastside [of Vancouver] as an Indigenous youth,” said O’Brien, who is Haida and Kwakwaka’wakw. “I was homeless; I was...

The Globe and Mail: In his past career as a civil-rights lawyer, David Eby would have been first in line to argue against involuntary treatment for mental health and addictions issues. But as British Columbia Premier, he is now pushing to expand the province’s capacity to compel it because the alternative, he argues, is worse....

Timing of elimination of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Canada’s provinces indicates 70% of provinces could reach the World Health Organization’s (WHO) HCV elimination target of 2030, however three of Canada’sprovinces — two of them the most populous in the country — are off track to achieve this hepatitis C elimination goal.1 Timely elimination would save 170...

Globe & Mail: Tanya Talaga – Over the past week, a Thunder Bay hotel’s conference room has become home to a land-based healing and recovery program. There, 17 women from one northern First Nation about two hours down the highway – women who are addicted to opioids, alcohol, crystal methamphetamine (jib) and/or methadone, which is...

The Narwhal – Human Rights Watch released “My fear is Losing Everything: Climate Crisis and First Nations’ Right to Food” in Canada. The report details how longer and more intense forest fire seasons, permafrost degradation, volatile weather patterns and increased levels of precipitation are all affecting wildlife habitat and, in turn, harvesting efforts. The report...

Community Food Centres (CFC) – Release of “Beyond Hunger – The Hidden Impacts of Food Insecurity in Canada”. Even before COVID-19, food insecurity affected nearly 4.5 million Canadians. In the first two months of the pandemic, that number grew by 39 per cent. Food insecurity now affects one in seven people, disproportionately impacting low-income and...

NationTalk – There is no national fire protection code that mandates fire safety standards or enforcement on reserves. All other jurisdictions in Canada including provinces, territories, and other federal jurisdictions (such as military bases, airports, and seaports) have established building and fire codes. The Aboriginal Firefighters Association of Canada (AFAC), NIFSC’s parent organization, supports the...