According to a new data released that First Nations people in B.C. are five times more likely to experience an overdose and three times more likely to die from one.
The data also showed that, while province-wide numbers typically show that men are more likely to die from an overdose, fatalities are more evenly split between men and women in First Nations communities.
Officials said racism, stigma and intergenerational trauma were factors in the higher number of women affected.
It’s the first time such information has been released in B.C.