Fewer Indigenous people are dying from drug overdose – but the rate of improvement is less than what the rest of British Columbia is experiencing, according to data released today from the First Nations Health Authority.
During a presentation on April 14, the FNHA presented statistics that could be seen as an overdue ray of hope in the province’s toxic drug crisis. Last year 427 First Nations people in B.C. died due to illicit drug use, showing a 6.8 per cent decrease from the 458 lost to overdose in 2023. This news came nine years after the provincial government declared that the opioid crisis was a public health emergency.
Since April 2016, more than 16,000 people have died in British Columbia due to illicit drug use, and the issue continues to be the leading cause of death for residents under 60 – more than homicide, suicide and car crashes combined. Fentanyl was detected in 78 per cent of drug deaths last year.
Although the crisis continues to devastate communities across B.C., 2024 brought some encouraging news. The 2,254 fatalities reported by the BC Coroners Service last year represents a 13 per cent decrease from the tally in 2023 – and the lowest numbers since the societal restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic brought a rise in fatal overdoses in 2020. For the first time in years, the average toll even declined to under five deaths a day in November and December 2024.
But First Nations people continue to be disproportionally impacted, and the gap is widening. This portion of the province is now 6.7 times more likely to die from illicit drug use than the rest of the B.C. population, reports the FNHA.
“The is the largest gap we have seen between First Nations and other residents in toxic drug deaths since 2016,” said Dr. Nel Wieman, FNHA’s chief medical officer, during a press conference on April 14.
The FNHA data presents some important differences among the First Nations fatalities due to illicit drug use. While males accounted for three quarters of the deaths across the province last year, among First Nations people men comprise 60.7 per cent of fatalities, making Indigenous females 11.6 times more likely to die from illicit drug use than other women in the province.
Fifty per cent of the First Nations deaths were to people under 40, while B.C.’s overall rate for this younger age group is 40 per cent.
The FNHA data comes more than two years into British Columbia’s three-year drug decriminalization project. With a Health Canada exemption under the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, people in B.C. are now free of criminal charges if carrying up to 2.5 grams of illicit substances like cocaine, crystal methamphetamine or Fentanyl.
This approach has faced heavy criticism as drug use became legal in public spaces, leading the NDP government to scale back its policy and ban illicit substances on the street and in hospitals last May. As an election approached, the Conservative Party of B.C. accused the government of fostering a “chaotic and permissive” approach to illicit drug use, with “failed ideological experiments”. Led by former Liberal MLA John Rustad, support for the Conservatives surged in the October provincial election, where they earned 44 seats in the legislature – within just three of the incumbent NDP.
“The Conservative Part of B.C. will never normalize drug addiction as a lifestyle choice: it is a cancer that destroys people, rips families apart and leads to deteriorating communities,” states the party’s platform, which calls for an end to decriminalization.
“Decriminalization was never meant to be an active intervention to save somebody’s life. The whole point of decriminalization was to try to take some of the stigma away from the people who use substances,” said Wieman. “Stories have been shared with us of women who use substances privately because of the fear they have of losing their children or personal supports.”
This stance aligns with the hope amongst front-line workers that by feeling acknowledged and supported, some illicit drug users will eventually seek help to recover. Earl Crow works with the Portland Hotel Society and for the last 25 years has lived in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, an area that has by far the highest fatal overdose rate in B.C.
“We don’t tell people what’s good for them; we ask people, we respect,” he said during the FNHA press conference on April 14. “Part of the work for us is having good ears, just to be able to sit and listen. Not to suggest anything, they just need someone to listen to them.”
Crow also integrates Indigenous culture into his work, often smudging rooms, taking clients to sweat ceremonies in Vancouver or driving them to a Sundance ritual outside of the city.
“Connecting with them is very important in that way,” said Crow. “There’s so many people, we’ve done this for them, it had changed who they are. They woke up.”
