Indigenous-led solution to universal crisis

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/07/2024 (415 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last week, the Manitoba government announced the fulfilment of an election promise, pledging $727,000 to support the development of an Indigenous-led supervised consumption site downtown, near Main Street, in 2025.

Manitoba is the only province west of Atlantic Canada without a supervised consumption site. People experiencing addiction use the sites to inject or otherwise use drugs in a non-judgmental environment. This prevents overdoses and deaths and provides access to supports necessary to escape substance abuse.

Such “wraparound” supports usually include mental health care, employment and skill training, and the facilitation of a healthy network or relationships necessary for a “clean,” balanced lifestyle.

Since Canada’s first safe consumption site in Vancouver opened in 2003, health advocates have argued that for a minimal cost, most such initiatives reduce crime, death and the spread of diseases such as HIV while providing health care and opportunities to those who need it most.

Money is saved, too.

In 2019, I wrote a column about the safe consumption program at Shelter House in Thunder Bay, Ont. Researchers from the University of Victoria studying the program found the initiative resulted in a 37 per cent reduction in hospital admissions, a 54 per cent reduction in emergency room use and 42 per cent fewer police interactions.

The researchers concluded every Ontario taxpayer “saved 10 to 20 cents” because clients at the sites don’t require paramedic aid and trips to the hospital as they would in a home or on the streets.

The cost for not having a supervised consumption was best explained in a column by Free Press colleague Tom Brodbeck, when he said the reluctance of the previous Progressive Conservative government “literally cost lives.”

As I’ve pointed out previously, deaths related to addiction have been on the incline in Manitoba since the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023, 445 deaths were attributed to “substance-related” issues, the office of the province’s chief medical examiner said. The previous year saw 467 deaths, which is the record.

CBC reported last week that a preliminary report from the medical examiner’s office said 89 substance-related deaths were reported in the first two months of 2024, meaning this year might break the record.

Winnipeg is in an addiction crisis, and something must be done.

For potential clients of a safe consumption site in Winnipeg, it’s not enough to only provide clean needles and access to health-care providers. Answers to addiction emerge when the reasons a person becomes addicted are considered.

That brings me to the Indigenous-led part of Winnipeg’s future supervised consumption site. Most people probably think it’s crucial the strategy is Indigenous-led because many who suffer from addiction here are Indigenous.

It’s true that people with cultural familiarity, fluency and experience are probably the best at helping those from their own culture heal.

But, there are other, equally important reasons for the site to be Indigenous-led.

It will be good for all Winnipeggers. Let me explain.

Indigenous senses of health are almost exclusively proactive.

In most Indigenous communities, the leading health-care providers are those who have the most knowledge about the territories, histories and stories of the people.

It’s not that doctors and nurses aren’t valuable, it’s that they often only deal with health reactively, such as when a bone is broken. This approach to health is often too late.

As anyone knows, a problem is never fixed if the root causes are not part of the solution. For example, if a person who cannot ride a bike is simply put back on the bike and not taught how to ride it, they will crash in perpetuity.

A person stuck in a cycle of problems must be taught how to rebuild their cycles and not be defined by the problem.

Indigenous health-care providers care first and foremost about relationships — specifically, those that address a person’s mind, body, heart and spirit.

This is why Indigenous grandparents care not only about eating healthy and doing well in school, but falling in love and laying tobacco to give thanks every day.

This is why aunties and uncles care as much about finding a job and exercising as they do building independence and pride through building a fire and taking care of water.

This is why Indigenous health-care providers care as much about building community, so everyone — human and non-human — can benefit collectively from the gifts of one another.

This is the definition of “wraparound” care — the key to the success of all safe consumption sites throughout Canada.

An Indigenous-led solution might just be the proactive solution to help a crisis that is affecting everyone.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca