{"id":103881,"date":"2026-04-16T08:34:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103881"},"modified":"2026-04-16T08:34:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:34:05","slug":"first-nations-overdose-deaths-in-b-c-drop-in-2025-but-still-disproportionally-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/first-nations-overdose-deaths-in-b-c-drop-in-2025-but-still-disproportionally-high\/","title":{"rendered":"First Nations overdose deaths in B.C. drop in 2025, but still disproportionally high"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ashley Joannou The number of overdose deaths of First Nations in British Columbia dropped by about a third in 2025 but the population continues to be disproportionately impacted by the province’s toxic drug crisis that has killed more than 18,000 people in the last decade. Dr. Nel Wieman, the chief medical officer with the First Nations Health Authority, said Wednesday that emergency has been used for political gain by some, putting progress at risk. The health authority released Indigenous-specific data for 2025 on the day after the province marked 10 years since declaring a public health emergency on April 14, 2016. “The politicization of this emergency and the increased vilification of people who use substances threatens progress, especially as the backlash against proven, evidence-based harm reduction measures that save… <\/p>\n

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By Ashley Joannou The number of overdose deaths of First Nations in British Columbia dropped by about a third in 2025 but the population continues to be disproportionately impacted by the province’s toxic drug crisis that has killed more than 18,000 people in the last decade. Dr. Nel Wieman, the chief medical officer with the First Nations Health Authority, said Wednesday that emergency has been used for political gain by some, putting progress at risk. The health authority released Indigenous-specific data for 2025 on the day after the province marked 10 years since declaring a public health emergency on April 14, 2016. “The politicization of this emergency and the increased vilification of people who use substances threatens progress, especially as the backlash against proven, evidence-based harm reduction measures that save... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst Nations overdose deaths in B.C. drop in 2025, but still disproportionally high - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/first-nations-overdose-deaths-in-b-c-drop-in-2025-but-still-disproportionally-high\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Nations overdose deaths in B.C. drop in 2025, but still disproportionally high - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ashley Joannou The number of overdose deaths of First Nations in British Columbia dropped by about a third in 2025 but the population continues to be disproportionately impacted by the province’s toxic drug crisis that has killed more than 18,000 people in the last decade. Dr. Nel Wieman, the chief medical officer with the First Nations Health Authority, said Wednesday that emergency has been used for political gain by some, putting progress at risk. The health authority released Indigenous-specific data for 2025 on the day after the province marked 10 years since declaring a public health emergency on April 14, 2016. “The politicization of this emergency and the increased vilification of people who use substances threatens progress, especially as the backlash against proven, evidence-based harm reduction measures that save\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/first-nations-overdose-deaths-in-b-c-drop-in-2025-but-still-disproportionally-high\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-16T12:34:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/16\\\/first-nations-overdose-deaths-in-b-c-drop-in-2025-but-still-disproportionally-high\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/16\\\/first-nations-overdose-deaths-in-b-c-drop-in-2025-but-still-disproportionally-high\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"First Nations overdose deaths in B.C. drop in 2025, but still disproportionally high\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-16T12:34:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/16\\\/first-nations-overdose-deaths-in-b-c-drop-in-2025-but-still-disproportionally-high\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":651,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/16\\\/first-nations-overdose-deaths-in-b-c-drop-in-2025-but-still-disproportionally-high\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/16\\\/first-nations-overdose-deaths-in-b-c-drop-in-2025-but-still-disproportionally-high\\\/\",\"name\":\"First Nations overdose deaths in B.C. drop in 2025, but still disproportionally high - 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