B.C. First Nation at UN calling for government help in battling toxic drug crisis

A United Nations flag flies at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Members of the Tsilhqot'in Nation are at the United Nations headquarters in New York calling for the British Columbia and Canadian governments to help fund support services in the battle against the toxic drug crisis. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Members of the Tsilhqot’in Nation in British Columbia are at the United Nations headquarters in New York City calling for the provincial and Canadian governments to fund recovery beds and other supports in the battle against the toxic drug crisis.

Chief Roger William with the Tsilhqot’in National Government says they’re asking for help to address the crisis in their own way, through culturally centred programming, improving access to treatment and recovery services, and expanding supportive housing.

William says the basic needs of their members must be met in order to stop their “people from falling into using drugs.”

The news conference comes one year after the Tsilhqot’in Nation declared a local state of emergency after a spike in deaths from toxic drug poisoning in its six member nations in central B.C.

Chief Francis Laceese says the crisis is a “continuation” of threats to his people’s survival in the form of residential schools and the smallpox epidemic that devastated Indigenous communities in B.C. in the early 1860s.

The Tsilhqot’in National Government said last April when it declared the emergency that toxic drugs, combined with the historical and ongoing harms of colonialism, were contributing to higher rates of overdose deaths among Indigenous Peoples.

The statement called on “all ministries and agencies to work together to end this loss of lives” and pointed to a lack of treatment facilities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2025.