Inter-generational trauma plays role in Indigenous addictions problems
Editor’s note: This is the first of a three-part series that looks at the opioid crisis in southern Alberta through an Indigenous lens.
In April 2023 the Blood Tribe declared a State of Emergency due to opioids.
According to Alberta's Opioid Response Surveillance Report: First Nations People in Alberta, published in June 2021, First Nations people represented 22 per cent of all opioid poisoning deaths in the first six months of 2020. Which was an increase from 14 per cent in 2016.
While many may have the perception drug abuse only happens in city limits, the Blood Tribe's declaration of a State of Emergency would prove otherwise.
Leslie Wells, Blood Tribe's opioid response coordinator, says the opioid response started back in 2014. She says one of the biggest contributing factors to the opioid crisis is the inter-generational trauma Indigenous people face.
"There's just like a lot of things that contribute to this crisis. But it is here and because even though Kainai is considered the largest First Nations in Canada, that has historical trauma, has really kind of wiped out and caused caused us to go into crisis not just with opioids but traumas and everything like that," said Wells.
When someone goes through trauma, it can effect many generations because it not only affects how the person reacts to dealing with the traumatic event but studies have been done which suggest trauma can affect how the body reads DNA, which is then passed on through generations.
Many Indigenous peoples’ trauma stemmed from residential schools and the Sixties Scoop which caused many Indigenous people to be isolated from their culture.
Charles Weaselhead, Former Treaty 7 Grand chief, says the inter-generational trauma caused by the residential school system has played major factors in addictions.
"The inter-generational trauma came to the forefront and people started speaking out with regards to the mental health and addiction and the impact that residential school had on huge number of people over that period," said Weaselhead.
Travis Coleman, Fire Chief and Director of Emergency Services for the Blood Tribe says education on inter-generational trauma is crucial to understanding the opioid crisis.
"I don't think most people know the severity of the childhood trauma and residential schools on First nations and Aboriginal people. We see it out here because I work out here and I just don't think people are educated enough to understand the the results of the residential schools and childhood trauma, everything that they had experienced over the years," said Coleman.
Alexandra Noad, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lethbridge Herald
