Carrier and Sekani Nations Chiefs are declaring a state of emergency for their Nations with respect to the ongoing opioid crisis during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Along with Carrier Sekani Family Services(CSFS), 11 Nation Chiefs call on the Canadian and provincial governments to take immediate action which should include a comprehensive commitment to combat the opioid crisis that continues to claim lives.
Indigenous people in BC’s northern interior region are experiencing over representation in overdose deaths and CSFS is seeking both federal and provincial funds to construct and operate a Healing/Treatment Centre.
A toxic drug supply, combined with the harms of historical and present-day colonialism, has led to Indigenous people dying from toxic drugs at a much higher rate compared to other BC residents.
Intergenerational impacts of residential school continue to be present. Mental health issues and addiction continue to impact the families we serve at a high rate.
“Carrier Sekani Family Services is poised and ready to increase capacity and services for the Addictions and Recovery program (ARP) with our planned Healing/Treatment Centre, and we have a strong track record of successfully designing and delivering services to the communities we serve,” Chief Corrina Leween, CSFS board president, said. “What we require now is a financial commitment from the federal and provincial governments that claim to prioritize Indigenous needs. To highlight this I can share with you that in the past two weeks, communities we serve lost three more lives to this crisis. Three more people who were loved and were deserving of help.”
Leween said the crisis is also affecting Indigenous children in care, particularly those in the care of the MCFD, and that some of these children are also suffering from addictions and opioid-related deaths.
“We need this treatment centre as a part of the wrap-around care we endeavour to provide to the clients and families we serve,” Leween added.
CSFS Chiefs strongly believe that any long-term solution in the region must include the CSFS Healing/Treatment Centre.
With the eventual development of a holistic Healing/Treatment Centre on Tachick Lake, which is a newly-acquired property located on the traditional territory of the Saik’uz First Nation, and targeted specifically for this purpose, CSFS will be able to greatly increase the support needed by many of the people currently suffering on the streets of cities across BC.
The approach will include detox, cultural and western treatment modalities and aftercare.
A brief video on this project can be found at https://youtu.be/0baMjV5442o
CSFS Chiefs and the board of directors strongly believe that construction and operation of the CSFS Healing/Treatment Centre meets a number of provisions from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) Calls to Action. The TRC will be met, for example, with the integration of the Bah’lats (Carrier and Sekani governing structure) and Healing the Healers program which incorporates culture and spirituality.
CSFS continues to engage with federal and provincial governments along with the First Nations Health Authority to seek support in fully developing the healing/treatment centre, which requires sufficient capital commitment.
