First Nations people in B.C. continue to be disproportionately represented in toxic drug deaths across the province, the First Nations Health Authority shared Wednesday.
The First Nations Health Authority released the 2025 data on the toxic drug crisis’s impact on First Nations people in Vancouver on April 15. This year, the presentation focused on the resilience of young people impacted by the crisis.
“I always hear people say our youth are our future, but our future is now,” said Dr. Nel Wieman, First Nations Health Authority chief medical officer, when she first began to share the data.
“Youth are valued and very much a part of our present. They are aware and impacted by the toxic drug crisis, and want to know more about keeping themselves, their families, and each other safe so today and every day, in spite of the challenges, we choose hope.”
Last year, 289 First Nations people lost their lives to toxic drugs.
Wieman said it was a 33 per cent decrease from the 433 deaths in 2024. However, she said that while First Nations people in B.C. account for approximately 3.4 per cent of the provincial population, they are disproportionately accounting for 15.8 per cent of all toxic drug deaths in B.C. in 2025.
B.C. Coroners Service data reported 1,826 deaths in 2025.
“First Nations people died at 5.4 times the rate of other B.C. residents in 2025. Tis rate multiplier was 6.5 in 2024, but you can see from this data that we continue to be disproportionately impacted and represented within this public health emergency.”
Wieman also shared data by gender, but acknowledged that the data was binary in nature.
“That renders people who belong to other genders invisible in our data,” she said.
First Nations females experience toxic drug poisonings at a high rate, with 35.6 per cent of deaths in 2025 being female. Compared to provincial data, 20.4 per cent were female.
Wieman said First Nations females die at 9.1 times the rate of other females in B.C.
Broken down by age, 50.5 per cent of those who died in 2025 were 40 years or older.
While the First Nations Health Authority collects data on deaths and overdoses among young people, Wieman said they group them over the course of several years to protect anonymity.
In 2024, there were 92 fatal overdoses among First Nations people ages 15 to 29.
Between 2021 and 2024, First Nations young people accounted for 24.4 per cent of toxic drug deaths despite making up only 4.4 per cent of B.C.’s youth population.
In the 2022 data, 1,960 First Nations youth who had healthcare interactions were coded as being related to opioid-use disorder, while 5,016 were coded as being related to alcohol-use disorder, and 964 were coded as being related to both.
“I don’t think the point can be made often enough that we are disproportionately represented and impacted by this public health emergency. Our youth have resilience, but some of them struggle, and we need to have youth-specific services tailored to them,” Wieman said.
Wieman also shared data for toxic drug poisoning events – what she noted was formerly referred to as overdoses – which included data beyond fatalities.
There were 2,924 toxic drug poisoning events in 2025, which was a 17 per cent decrease from the 3,523 in 2024.
Wieman explained that the data came from when paramedics or 911 are called, so the actual numbers would be higher.
“There are certain First Nations communities that aren’t serviced by the 911 service, for example, so those numbers are likely an underestimate of the number of toxic drug poisoning events.”
Tuesday marked the 10-year anniversary of the toxic drug crisis in B.C., where more than 18,000 people have lost their lives to unregulated substances. The public health emergency was first declared on April 14, 2016.
During that time, more than 2,000 of those deaths were First Nations people.
“These are not numbers,” Wieman said.
“These are people. But underlying the numbers are racism and discrimination, the intergenerational impacts of colonialism and gaps in the social determinants of health.”
Wieman said racism broadly contributes to the stereotyping, stigma, shaming and misinformation about First Nations people, generally, and those who have a substance-use issue. She added that racism and discrimination impact access to health services, including mental health and substance-use services.
“Access is not just a matter of having a bricks and mortar building in or near First Nations communities, many of which are in rural, remote, and isolated environments. First Nations people are reluctant to seek care because of a lack of trust,” Wieman said.
“They are fearful of how they’re going to be treated. Can you imagine being a person with a substance use disorder who finally overcomes their own internalized shame and stigma and reaches out for help, only to be met with racism, treated disrespectfully, and quickly discharged without a feasible treatment plan?”