A report released on Monday morning has found that in 2022, First Nations people in Ontario were killed by opioids at nine times the rate of non-First Nations people. In First Nations, opioids caused 12.8 deaths per 10,000 people, while the rate for non-First Nations was 1.4 per 10,000.
The report also found that First Nations people living outside of their communities suffered higher rates of opioid use. First Nations individuals living outside their communities are also twice as likely to be hospitalized for opiate-related issues as those living within their communities.
Abram Benedict is the Regional Chief for the Chiefs of Ontario. He says individuals from northern First Nation communities experience a shock when coming into larger city centres for health and education, and find greater access to substances once in those larger cities.
The Chiefs of Ontario report determined that the rate of opioid use for First Nations people in Ontario tripled between 2019 and 2022. But in 2023, the death rate stabilized, and the hospitalization rate decreased.
Benedict feels that the COVID-19 pandemic played a significant role in the rising rate of opioid use. He believes the stabilization of the opioid rates for 2023 comes from a few factors: “Following COVID, there have been some more investments made, there has been more awareness around addictions, more supports have become available… but considering all of that, it’s still high numbers. Still very alarming.”
The report calls for an end to a war-on-drugs approach to the drug crisis, and instead advocates for culturally-based healing programs.
Benedict acknowledges that policing is effective at shutting down large drug operations and disrupting organized crime. “But that’s only one element of it,” he says.
On the policing front, Benedict also argues for the self-policing of First Nations – he wants to see First Nation policing legislated as an essential service rather than a program.
“When it comes to enforcement surveillance, stopping organized crime, stopping the exploitation of our First Nation members and our women and children, our police have to be at the forefront of that,” Benedict says. “We know that bringing non-Indigenous agencies in the community is not as effective as First Nation policing.”
Policing can prevent the supply of illegal substances to prevent new users, but it does not cure those already at the mercy of an addiction, nor does it address the root causes that lead vulnerable people to become addicted to begin with.
To address those already suffering from opiate addictions, Benedict supports land-based healing. The practice involves helping a person reconnect with the land, with nature, and with traditional cultural practices and ceremonies.
But when it comes to root causes, Benedict points out that mental health issues and rising homelessness aren’t self-contained problems. A solution to the opioid crisis requires addressing the other social determinants that contribute to substance abuse.
“It really is about ensuring that part of bringing persons back to rehabilitative states and being back in balance,” Benedict states. “This really is about ensuring those other factors that have impacted them to get to that point where they are in their life are also addressed as well.”
Benedict says publicly-funded programs to handle the opioid crisis are insufficient. “Ontario and the federal government have a really long way to go to address this issue.”
