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First Nations in B.C. died at a much higher rate from toxic drugs, health authority
VANCOUVER — The chief medical officer of British Columbia’s First Nations Health Authority says the toxic drug crisis in 2022 was the most devastating year so far for Indigenous people, their families, and communities.
Dr. Nel Wieman says First Nations people are disproportionately dying from illicit drugs in B.C. and the gap continues to widen.
First Nations people represent 3.3 per cent of B.C.’s population, but the health authority says 16.4 per cent of those who died from overdoses last year were Indigenous.
Wieman says First Nations woman were particularly affected, with a death rate that was double that of non-Indigenous women.