First Nations people are disproportionately represented in toxic drug poisoning deaths in British Columbia, according to new data from the First Nations Health Authority.
First Nations members represented 16.4 per cent of toxic drug deaths in B.C. in 2022, despite making up only 3.3 percent of the province’s population, according to the FNHA’s Toxic Drug Data report.
It shows that 373 First Nations people lost their lives to drug toxicity last year, meaning First Nations people are dying from toxic drugs at 5.9 times the rate of the general population.
At a news conference in Vancouver on Friday, FNHA acting chief medical officer Dr. Nel Wieman described 2022
