'We need action': Treaty 6 chiefs declare opioid crisis emergency
CBC
The Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations is calling on provincial and federal governments to provide immediate support to address the deadly opioid crisis.
The nations declared a state of emergency on Monday at their annual general meeting.
Figures provided by the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations show Indigenous peoples in Alberta are seven times more likely to die of opioid toxicity. Leaders say death rates have spiked since the provincial government closed safe consumption sites.
Grand Chief Leonard Standingontheroad said people will continue dying if harm reduction isn't made available and hopes provincial and federal leaders step up to the plate.
"We need action right now, not just talk about it," he said.
The confederacy said 71 First Nations in Alberta have already declared an opioid crisis state of emergency, but only about two dozen have received funding to come up with solutions.
The chiefs noted the Indigenous Health Equity Fund, announced in February, promised $2 billion in federal funding over 10 years, but they said it was not communicated well and funding has not been provided.
Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, the former medical lead for the Indigenous Wellness Core Network at Alberta Health Services, applauded the Treaty 6 chiefs for taking a stand.
"All of our nations are suffering and we're burying people daily," she said.
"We're asking for help and nobody's helping."
Tailfeathers, who now works as a family doctor in Blood Tribe, said Indigenous communities are routinely left out of obtaining proper resources to handle addiction issues.
Tailfeathers said recovery treatment beds promised to First Nations are often non-existent or inaccessible and that's part of the reason why her community launched harm reduction treatment programs in 2014.
"[The province] can continue to preach abstinence-based therapies, but people can't even make it to the abstinence-based therapy because they're dying on the streets," said Tailfeathers.
"We're creating an eventual crisis that's going to be even larger than today."
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