By Luke Faulks, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Pique Newsmagazine On July 8, the St’át’imc Chiefs Council (SCC) declared a state of local emergency across its 11 communities in response to the toxic drug crisis. “We are losing a generation,” said Chief Justin Kane, chair of the SCC. “Now is the time for us to try to come together and think as one to help tackle the issue at hand.” The decision to declare the emergency came after a rise in both fatal and non-fatal overdoses in the Lillooet area—a region that now reports the second-highest toxic drug death rate in the province at 116 deaths per 100,000 residents. “We made a recommendation to bring [a declaration] to all the chiefs, and all chiefs were automatically in support of it,” Kane…
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