Carson Poitras looks on as a billboard displaying his daughter's face gets set up with assistance from the Prince Albert Police Service. (File photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

War on drugs

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Carson Poitras believes there is a connection between the province’s drug crisis and missing and murdered Indigenous men and women.

Poitras, whose daughter Happy Charles has been missing for nearly 8 years, is the guest speaker at a special event Friday night at Pelican Lake – a community he said has been dealing with its own mental health related issues.

“Our daughter was an addict and that lifestyle is not good,” Poitras said, adding there are so many young people losing their lives to drugs.

“It’s scary to think about how many grandmothers and grandfathers are looking after their grandkids because both parents are gone because of drug use.”

Earlier this week, hundreds of overdoses in Saskatoon prompted the provincial government to activate the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC). Poitras, who has witnessed his own local hospital in La Ronge at capacity due to patients with addictions issues, believes the alert needs to be extended.

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“What does it take for it to be classified as a pandemic? Like sure it’s recreational drug use but still drugs that are being put on the street are killing people,” he said. “If it was a direct health issue, a state ot emergency is what it should have been.”

In response to ongoing issues with fentanyl and crystal meth, the province announced a number of changes to its laws including an increase in fines for traffickers and giving police more power to remove people from public spaces such as libraries or parks.

Poitras believes the penalty needs to match the crime.

“They’ve taken a life and they should have to pay for that”, he said. “They should be charged with murder or attempted murder as well.”

As the medical health officer for the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority (NITHA), Dr. Nnamdi Ndubuka looks after over 30 first nations communities in northern Saskatchewan. While he did not have exact overdose numbers, he confirmed opioids and crystal meth are a growing concern and affecting community safety.

He noted NITHA works with individual Chiefs and council and does provide supports in terms of both resources and training.

Legal aid response to provincial laws

Julia Quigley is a legal aid lawyer in Saskatoon and head of the union representing legal aid staff and lawyers in Saskatchewan.

While stating the penalties don’t really make a distinction between drug traffickers and drug users, she believes the legislation will really only make things worse.

“It’s gonna breed distrust and its going to physically move them away from some of these spaces that represent the only safe space they have,” she said.

Noting the provincial government has ignored the advice of harm reduction and health workers, and also representatives from the legal system, Quigley said the issue is rooted in the government’s policy failures with respect to housing, addictions and mental health.

One example she provided is the change that was made to the social income assistance program which she said made it harder for people struggling with addictions to find and maintain housing.

“With people no longer getting their benefits paid directly to landlords, we’ve seen an increase in evictions and more people living on the street and of course we shouldn’t be surprised that when people are living in really dire circumstances like that, they are increasingly vulnerable to addictions,” Quigley said.

Further noting a greater impact on Indigenous people who are dealing inter-generational trauma brought on by the residential school system, Quigley said the province’s legislation is counter productive and only further drives people who are using drugs, further onto the margin and further away from the vital supports that might actually help them get onto stable footing.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Blue Sky: @nigelmaxwell.bsky.social