Racism a key factor during B.C.'s Indigenous overdose crisis, says health official

British Columbia’s First Nations Health Authority says Indigenous people accounted for nearly 15 per cent of all toxic drug deaths last year although they represent 3.3 per cent of the province’s total population.

Deputy chief medical officer Dr. Nel Wieman says 254 Indigenous people died from overdoses last year, which is nearly a 120 per cent increase from 2019.

She says the death rate began to rise after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a public health emergency.

Wieman says systemic