B.C. announces $20 million for Indigenous communities dealing with overdose deaths

British Columbia announced $20 million in funding over three years for Indigenous communities struggling with an overdose death rate three times higher than the general population.

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy said the money is part of $322 million announced in September’s budget update and will be administered by the First Nations Health Authority.

Indigenous people are also five times more likely to experience a non-fatal overdose, Darcy said Thursday at a news conference following a wellness summit hosted by the health ministry.

“While amongst British Columbians in general who are dying of overdose, 80 per cent of them are men, in the case of Indigenous people half of them are men so that says something very powerful about Indigenous women and the particular risk they are at,” Darcy said.

Dr. Shannon McDonald, the health authority’s chief medical health officer, said 55 projects have been approved with the funding to provide a range of supports including expanded access to the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, more treatment options for people struggling with addiction in remote communities through telehealth, and “back-to-the-land” therapeutic camps.

The health authority said an open call for project grants in December resulted in 183 applications.

Many of the addiction issues among Indigenous people are rooted in trauma, and diverse solutions are needed to help those who use illicit drugs in their preteens and into their 70s, McDonald said.

“We have a pain problem, not a drug problem,” she said.