Spokeswoman for Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs says insufficient programs mean Indigenous youth end up institutionalized against their will
An organizer displays a naloxone kit that people can pick up for free as International Overdose Awareness Day training seminar takes place at Centennial Square in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday August 31, 2019.Indigenous and civil liberties groups say the British Columbia government failed to consult them before proposing legislation that would force youth under 19 to stay in hospital after an overdose.
Judy Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said Indigenous youth would be most affected by the changes and instead need support services before they overdose and end up in an emergency department. “There aren’t enough programs so it ends up being the only solution, to leave them in the psych ward, in an institutional setting,” Wilson said. “And of course youth rebel because they don’t want to be in a hospital.”
“Everyone was very surprised to see the proposed changes,” Ahamad said, adding youth fearing they could be detained in hospital will no longer trust doctors trying to treat them. “A 17-year-old doesn’t want to be forced into doing anything that they don’t want to do. And if best evidence suggested that this would be effective and potentially lead to improved outcomes then of course we would advocate for it.”
The BC Centre on Substance Use was also not consulted by the province, and neither were drug users’ groups or Moms Stop the Harm, a national support group of about 1,300 parents whose children are struggling through addiction or have died of an overdose.
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