'Our communities are in grief': Sask. First Nations battle ongoing opioid crisis
Reserves in Touchwood Hills area look for solutions in ongoing opioid crisis
Jeromy Desjarlais's home on the Muskowekwan First Nation has become the spot people in the community go when they need a naloxone kit.
The kits, which contain two doses of naloxone, two nasal misters and directions on appropriate use, are used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Desjarlais said the health centre in his community, about 145 kilometres north of Regina, has the kits at its public building, but the hours it is open are limited.
"Anybody should be able to just go there, take it and then have it," he said.
So Desjarlais opened a small store, in his home, with snacks for sale and free kits with the life-saving drug. He said he's already had people coming into his store asking for the kits.
He said people in his community need a place to go to get help without being judged.
Part of his motivation lies in grief. Desjarlais said he has lost many family members and friends to fatal drug overdoses.
"It's pretty scary to see that happening in our community," he said. "It's going after every generation."
Opioids and intergenerational trauma
Desjarlais said when he was growing up, there was a lot of underage drinking. Now, he sees that the problematic substance use has escalated to kids doing hard drugs.
He said it is a crisis that is reaching into his generation as well. He said many of the people he grew up with use opioids and "look lost."
"There's really nothing you can do," he said. "You try to help them and they don't want help."
Desjarlais said they don't understand the damage they are doing to themselves or to their families.
He said the effects of intergenerational trauma are still being felt in his community. Many people he knows, including himself and his parents, attended residential school there. The former Muscowequan Indian Residential School, located on Muskowekwan First Nation, closed its doors in 1997.
"A lot of that trauma comes from the residential school that's on Muskowekwan," Desjarlais said.
"If you don't heal that trauma … you end up doing drugs, you end up drinking," he said. "If you don't heal that trauma, then you're kind of stuck and then that's where a lot of people are right now."
'It's unending'
Jeannette Anderson works for the Touchwood Agency Tribal Council in Treaty 4 territory. It serves three First Nations — Kawacatoose, Muskowekwan and Day Star — in the Touchwood Hills area, and formerly served George Gordon First Nation as well.
Anderson has worked in the tribal council's justice department for 23 years. She said the largest communities under her purview, with the exception of Day Star, are experiencing intense problems.
"It's almost a daily thing to see the EMS in our community," she said. "There's been a lot of fatal overdoses."
Anderson lives on the main road on George Gordon First Nation, so she said she often watches emergency crews race by. She said between Kawacatoose, Muskowekwan and George Gordon, there are funerals every month due to fatal drug overdoses.
"Our communities are in grief," she said. "It's unending."
According to data from the Saskatchewan Coroners Service, there were 367 confirmed drug toxicity related deaths in Saskatchewan in 2023, with 23 identified as happening in First Nation communities.
Anderson said she is a great-grandmother who is raising three of her great-grandchildren, because her granddaughters are lost in addiction. She said she told her son they need to prepare for the worst.
"One of these days I said … the police are going to come knocking on my door and tell me that, you know they passed because of overdoses," she said.
A spokesperson for the Muskowekwan First Nation health department said they know there is a problem in their community and that they are dealing with it on their own.
Federal funding
CBC News reached out to Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) for comment. It said it was working with the Touchwood Agency Tribal Council "to ensure they have the supports they need."
ISC said it had received a proposal from Muskowekwan First Nation to fund the development of an on-reserve detox program.
"In May 2024, the First Nation was informed that ISC would be providing $125,000 for the development and establishment of their proposed detox program," the statement said.
Muskowekwan First Nation Chief Jamie Wolfe said all communities are struggling with the opioid epidemic and his community has been trying different ways to combat the drug problem.
The First Nation is planning to use the federal funding to develop its own detox program that will help members get into treatment faster.
Wolfe said one of the barriers is the waiting list to get into detox. Sometimes, community members wait up to six months for a placement, and he said that while they're waiting, people have died.
His hope is that their own on-reserve programming and support can help to save lives.
"I feel that if we don't make a stand now, that this is going to be an epidemic that could take a lot of our younger and future generations," Wolfe said.
"Our people are crying out for help."
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