Health board aims to curb drug overdoses of Indigenous Torontonians

Summary and Analysis…

Sensitivity to the specialized needs of Indigenous Torontonians are not being met, or so some feel in that specialized community. A report completed for Toronto Public Health that was spear-headed by an Indigenous consultant says that there is a perception that the service workers do not understand this culture and that the opioid users feel like “misfits.” This minority community requests “culturally relevant drop-in centers and outreach services that will save lives among the Indigenous drug users who need a place to belong.”

Excerpted from The Star

After hearing about the toll the overdose crisis is taking on Indigenous Torontonians, the city’s public health board voted unanimously to adopt a strategy aimed at reducing the suffering.

“I’ve lost so many relatives that have died from overdoses in the short time that this report has gone on,” Les Harper, from Alberta’s Saddle Lake Cree Nation and now working at South Riverdale Community Health Centre’s supervised drug consumption site, told the board Monday.