Framed photographs of young people who have died as a result of opioids and mental-health struggles were lined up on a long table in Port Alberni on Thursday, as First Nations leaders on the west coast of Vancouver Island pleaded for help.
Some of the family pictures showed young people in their graduation gowns.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, representing 14 First Nations on the west side of the Island, has declared a state of emergency after several deaths in their communities, said president Cloy-e-iis Judith Sayers.
Most recently, two young people from Ahousaht, based on Flores Island near Tofino, died, prompting the nation to declare a state of emergency early this month.
Sayers said First Nations need funding to support overwhelmed workers in their communities and to build detox and rehabilitation centres. “We are losing too many people, especially young people,” she said.
She said Port Alberni has the second highest number of drug deaths in B.C. after Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. “And that’s shocking.”
“Today we come before you — Nuu-chah-nulth strong — to say enough is enough. Let’s have some action. Let’s implement good solutions. Let’s work with our people that need help,” said Sayers.
The tribal council is calling for “dedicated and substantial funding” to provide meaningful and culturally appropriate trauma-informed services, and for the provincial and federal governments, along with B.C.’s health authorities, to provide supports.
Leaders of the nations and members who have lost relatives were all at the somber and emotional meeting, where tears were shed.
Figures from the First Nations Health Authority show Indigenous people died from drug poisonings at more than six times the rate of other B.C. residents last year.
“We talk about the war on drugs in Nuu-chah-nulth communities. It’s the war on trauma,” Sayers said.
Trauma has deep roots through generations, leading to what Sayers described as “the war on dealing with the colonial past that we have had … So many issues have impacted us that we need to address and it’s a huge, huge issue.”
Nuu-chah-nulth leaders have come together “because we know we have to jointly lead the solutions against this war. We are losing too many people, especially young people.”
The crisis is too much for communities and families to bear, she said.
Ken Watts (Wahmeesh), elected chief councillor at Tseshaht First Nation, said it’s ironic that the Nuu-chah-nulth leaders were in a building that was once part of the local Indian residential school.
All 14 nations have families who attended the school and “we’re all suffering from the intergenerational trauma that happened right here,” he said. The building is scheduled to be torn down.
Watts is urging people to ask candidates in the upcoming provincial election what they will do about the mental health and opioid crisis.
Nations need to develop their own strategies unique to their needs, he said, his voice breaking at times.
Les Doiron, vice-president on the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, said the province does not have enough facilities to help those struggling with addiction amid an opioid crisis that has killed more than 15,000 people since a health emergency was declared in B.C. eight years ago.
That has had a devastating affect on Indigenous communities, said Doiron, whose nephew was one of those who died and whose picture was on the desk.
“I haven’t seen the picture. I’m kind of afraid to walk around and look at it,” he said. “He died for a couple reasons. One of them was he detoxed himself because there is no detox facility.”
He noted Island Health has only two detox facilities, one in Nanaimo and one in Victoria.
“And the First Nations Health Authority has 10 in the entire province. So, what happens is that if you want to get into detox and you meet the criteria, you have to be almost like a lotto winner to be able to get in there.”
Ahousaht First Nation elected Chief Coun. John Rampanen said it’s important for Indigenous people to reclaim agency over their well-being.
“It’s not as easy to just label drugs and alcohol as being the core issue for a lot of the lives that we’re losing,” he said. “When we look at the broader aspects of intergenerational trauma, what we start to appreciate is that it’s the loss of agency. It’s the loss of being the authors of our own plan moving forward for our own health and our own well-being.”
Rampanen said the state of crisis “has been in effect for many, many years.”
“Those lives that we’ve lost need to be honored in very real ways to prevent and to ensure that these types of situations don’t continue to occur and impact our families.”
In the House of Commons on Thursday, Gord Johns, the New Democrat MP for the riding of Courtenay-Alberni, questioned why the federal government was not doing more to help the tribal council members.
He said the council has had applications for substance use and addictions support through federal programs denied.
“Communities across the country are in crisis. They don’t have the resources they need to support people who are struggling with trauma, mental-health and substance-use disorders, but the Liberals keep delaying support,” he said.
Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya’ara Saks responded that the government has promised $150 million over three years as part of a national emergency treatment fund.
Saks said the government will “work directly with communities like the ones the member discussed because we know we need to be there to save lives.”
Sayers said a meeting was held with provincial government and health officials to discuss the concerns and another meeting is being planned with the federal government.
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