B.C. announces $20M in support for Indigenous communities battling overdoses
VANCOUVER — British Columbia has announced $20 million in funding over three years for Indigenous communities struggling with an overdose death rate that’s three times higher than the general population.
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy said the money is part of $322 million announced in last September’s budget update and will be administered by the First Nations Health Authority.
Indigenous people are also five times more likely to experience a non-fatal overdose as the province experiences one of its worst public health emergencies, Darcy said Thursday at a news conference following a wellness summit hosted by the health ministry.
“While amongst British Columbians in general who are dying of overdose, 80 per cent of them are men, in the case of Indigenous people half of them are men so that says something very powerful about Indigenous women and the particular risk they are at,” Darcy said.