Question Period Note: Support for Indigenous Communities

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• We know that Indigenous Peoples have been disproportionately impacted by the overdose crisis.
o Example: In B.C. from January to June 2023, First Nations people died at six times the rate of other B.C. residents.
o Example: In Ontario, in 2021, the rate of opioid-toxicity deaths among First Nations people was seven times higher than the rate for non-First Nations people.
• Factors such as intergenerational trauma linked to colonialism and the legacy of residential schools, systemic and institutional racism and lower socio-economic outcomes increase risks for Indigenous Peoples.
• Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) is providing more than $650 million this year (2023-2024) to help address mental wellness and substance use prevention and treatment in First Nations and Inuit communities through its Mental Wellness Program.
• The federal budget 2024 also includes commitments for complementary initiatives related to substance use, including $630.2 million over two years, starting this year, for Indigenous Services Canada to support Indigenous people’s access to mental health services, including through distinctions-based mental wellness strategies.
• As part of this Government’s comprehensive approach, I am supporting my colleague, the Honourable Patti Hajdu, Minister of ISC, in increasing access to trauma-informed, culturally appropriate and quality substance use services and supports.
o Example: Through financial support from the Substance Use and Addictions Program, Gitmo Spirit Lodge is providing medically prescribed cannabis to members of the Natoaganeg First Nation who are currently using opioid agonists such as methadone and suboxone to determine if this combined medication approach helps people reduce and/or replace opioid medications.
• CIHR is also supporting the creation of an Indigenous Engagement Platform, under CRISM, which will encourage substance use research and knowledge mobilization that is grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, priorities and values.

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