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Important Information

8 to 9 out of 10 teenagers living on aboriginal reserves use marijuana on a regular basis

In 2016 the Government promised $8.4 billion in funding to the first nation communities over the next five years. Healthcare was not even part of this funding.

Studies shows that substance abuse is a huge beneficiary to other issues that occurring within these communities. For example many cases of violence, sexual abuse, child abuse, and physical abuse have been rooted from the use of drugs and alcohol. Therefore if one of these abuses is to be resolved then the rates of the other will drastically drop. 

Mostly crack, any prescription drug, codeine, meth, oxycontin, fentanyl are commonly used on these reserves. 

The rate of HIV in aboriginal communities is slowly rising because in poorer areas where heroin and other cheap injection drugs are popular, needles are shared with each other. Therefore there is many instances where other individuals are infected with HIV and other transmitted diseases because of this

According to the National Post, Attawapiskat has one of the biggest problems with drug trafficking. During winter time, an ice road is formed between Attawapiskat and the rest of Canada. This allows for easy access in out of the reserve. Many drugs like crack, marijuana, codeine, meth, oxycodone, and fentanyl are easily smuggling into the reserve

Trauma from residential schools: forcing the children into intercourse and if they were impregnated forcing an abortion whether physically or verbally. There has been cases where children have been isolated when sick which resulted in them eating their own vomit from starvation. Put needles into the tongues of students who spoke their native tongue. This all led to trauma which led to substance abuse. As more and more Aboriginal children spent their childhood in these environments, their families and communities became inundated with people suffering from unhealed trauma, grief, and rage.Increasingly, Survivors turned to addictive behaviors and other negative ways of coping to numb their grief and pain. 

Research consistently reveals a strong link between PTSD and alcoholism. Studies of Vietnam veterans show more than half of those diagnosed with PTSD subsequently developed signs of alcohol addiction (post traumatic stress disorder). 

There is evidence of underfunding for rehab centers which results in them shutting down quite early. 

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The PTSD  from residential schools had traumatic effects on indigenous people. This resulted in them turning to substances as a coping mechanism to deal with the trauma. The substance abuse resulted transferred abuse to their children and so forth. These children developed PTSD as well and passed it on to their children. It created a domino effect. 

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The Issue

The issue at hand is that the percentage of aboriginals having some sort of alcohol or drug problem is much higher than the average non aboriginal Canadian. This is an issue because First Nations people living on these reserves, do not have the same amount of access to the proper help they need to cope with these addictions. Therefore their problem becomes worse and worse. I care about this issue because I feel that any human being should have the same amount of access to mental health than any other individual. In addition, I care about this issue because as a Catholic student we learned about the Catholic Social teachings and that any human being has the right to all of these categories. For example this issue goes against various teachings like community and common good, human dignity, option for the poor and vulnerable, and role of government. This is why I deeply care about this issue.

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The Injustice

This is an issue of injustice because Aboriginal communities are greatly underfunded for health care and many other resources compared to non-aboriginal Canadian. Sherry Saevil the Indigenous Education Advisor explained that the Canadian government has not supplied these aboriginal communities with the proper care for addictions and the proper centres where these victims can go to for guidance. She also stated that they have much less access, than the average Canadian, to recreational activities that would help keep an individual busy and not fall back into alcoholism and drugs.  By not having equal access to rehabilitation centres and aid for substance abuse, this goes against human dignity, role of the government, etc… This is why it is an issue of injustice.

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8 out of 10 aboriginal teenagers use marijuana on a regular basis.

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Questions

Why is there such a high rate of substance abuse in aboriginal communities? 

Is it because of the residential schools? 

Is it because of the land and the limitations? Is it both?

What are the stories of the victims? Is there truly a social injustice issue occurring?

What are people doing to help?

Is there any other possible solutions? 

Is this same injustice occurring in non aboriginal areas? 

How does the substance abuse affect teenagers? 

Is substance abuse linked to diseases and other health issues?

Is alcoholism and substance abuse linked to different forms of abuse?

What is the rate of deaths caused by drugs and alcohol? 

Is substance abuse affecting the life expectancy?

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Cough syrup with codeine is very common among these communities and are easily accessed

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My father was a chronic alcoholic. His parents had seven children and five died of alcoholism, including my father. My mom drank also and I started drinking at age eight. I was in and out of group homes and foster care and by the age of fifteen I was ordered to attend AA. I started on IV drugs at sixteen.

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This chart shows the rates of abuse between non aboriginal people and aboriginal people which results in substance abuse.

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Questions and Answers

What is the issue at hand?

The issue at hand is that there are much higher rates of substance abuse in aboriginal communities compared to non aboriginal communities. In Aboriginal communities the rate of Inuit people living on the reserve who smoke daily is around 47% compared to non aboriginals with only 15% as of 2012. As of 2012 About 40% of aboriginals living on the reserve heavily drank between the ages of 12 and 24. Since 2012 these rates have been slowly rising, Therefore this is clearly an issue

Is there truly an injustice occurring here or is it just an issue?

This is truly an injustice because the Government has been under funding the aboriginal communities health care funds towards mental health and substance abuse programs compared to the rest of the Canadian population. In 2016 The Canadian Government estimated that they would spend $228 billion towards Canadian healthcare. As of 2015 the government has spent on average around $1.1 billion towards aboriginal health care which includes mental health and substance abuse programs. Even though there is a much less population in aboriginal communities compared to the rest of Canada, there is still a dramatic difference. In 2016 the Government promised $8.4 billion in funding to the first nation communities over the next five years. Healthcare was not even part of this funding. This is why this is an injustice.

Is substance abuse linked to diseases and other health issues?

Yes the use of drugs and alcohol is linked to other diseases and health care issues. The rate of HIV in aboriginal communities is slowly rising because in poorer areas where heroin and other cheap injection drugs are popular, needles are shared with each other. Therefore there is many instances where other individuals are infected with HIV and other transmitted diseases because of this. Other drugs like tobacco and crack cause lung diseases like lung cancer and dental decay.

Is substance abuse linked to other forms of abuse?

Yes, according to Sherry Saevil, the indigenous Education Advisor for the the HCDSB, explains that the use of drugs and alcohol have a direct connection to forms of physical, sexual, mental, and emotional abuse. In addition, these forms of abuse lead victims into substance abuse. Therefore there is a direct relation between the two.http://www.ahf.ca/downloads/addictive-behaviours.pdf

How does the substance abuse affect teenagers?

9 out of 10 teenagers smoke marijuana. Substance abuse has a huge negative effect on the teenage community. There have been many instances where a young male or female’s parents are alcoholics and have abused these teens because of it. A perfect example of this would be with the public speaker that came in, Doug Doolittle. He explained that his parents were both alcoholics and that it resulted in his mother in abusing him almost every single day. This resulted in Doug becoming an alcoholic himself. Therefore substance abuse has a huge impact on the teenage community. “My father was a chronic alcoholic. His parents had seven children and five died of alcoholism, including my father. My mom drank also and I started drinking at age eight. I was in and out of group homes and foster care and by the age of fifteen I was ordered to attend AA. I started on IV drugs at sixteen”

Why is there such a high rate of substance abuse in these communities?

There is many different reasons why substance abuse is very common in these aboriginal communities. Ahf.ca explains that one of the main reasons why aboriginal people turn to alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse is because of the intense trauma the adults have received from residential schools. It explains that the mistreatment and the abuse that the aboriginal people received caused them to turn to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism. This resulted in a domino effect upon the community. The parents who had traumatic experiences from these schools started to abuse their children in the same ways they were abused and so forth. This resulted in the rate of substance abuse to grow. There are other reasons for high rates of substance abuse like the loss of land and and poverty but the most popular reason is because of the residential schools.

What is being done to help troubled teens with addictions? Is there even help being given?

First Nations communities with addiction challenges have access to two programs funded by the Government of Canada. These programs are the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP) and the National Youth Solvent Abuse Program (NYSAP)  There is multiple treatment centres in various provinces that aboriginals have access to. EX- BC, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, and they even have some by the Atlantic

For example in Ontario there is a treatment centre known as Native Horizons Treatment centre that has programs that deal with trauma with residential schools, trauma, substance abuse, and family issues.

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The reason for this injustice

The most prominent reason as to why there is such a high rate of substance abuse in these aboriginal communities is because of the trauma that most of these people experienced during the early stages of their lives. Residential schools had catastrophic effects on the mental and physical state of the aboriginal children. These schools basically tortured the students into assimilation. There were many cases where children were sexually abused by multiple different adult figures. There have even been instances where  female students were forced to have abortions if they became pregnant. It even went as far as sticking needles into students tongues who are caught speaking their native language. All of these forms of abuse resulted in these students developing PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Once out of the residential schools, the survivors living PTSD developed many cases of rage and depression. Their only way of coping with this was through drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately these coping mechanisms were only a temporary fix, causing them to become increasingly more dependant on substances. As these victims grew older they transferred this trauma towards their children. There is research shown that individuals who do not have a proper upbringing with proper growth and development will have extreme difficulty with parenting (ahf.com). This has a domino effect upon the community because the children who suffer from abuse from their parents turn to drugs and alcohol as their only source to cope. The cycle continues and these children will transfer this trauma to their children and so forth. Another major cause for the growing rate of substance abuse is the drug trafficking and bootlegging that occurs in these reserves. According to the National Post, Attawapiskat has one of the biggest problems with drug trafficking. During winter time, an ice road is formed between Attawapiskat and the rest of Canada. This allows for easy access in out of the reserve. Many drugs like crack, marijuana, codeine, meth, oxycodone, and fentanyl are easily smuggling into the reserve. Since they have such easy access to these drugs they are more persuaded to try them, resulting in addictions. Another reason why substance abuse is such a problem in these aboriginal communities is from the lack of activities within these communities. These reserves have very minimal sources of entertainment for the community because of how how poor the area is. The government is known for underfunding the these communities with recreational activities compared to other non aboriginal communities. For example The government has just recently promised 1 million dollars to communities like Slave Lake, Fort Vermilion and Barrhead for recreational activities. But puts millions and millions of dollars are put into Oakville alone. Thus, many individuals living on these reserves turn to drugs and alcohol because there is simply nothing else to do. Lastly another major reason for the rise of substance abuse in these aboriginal reserves is the shutting down of the treatment centres. Canada does offer a wide rage of treatment centres for aboriginal individuals who have addictions but they do not last very long. In many cases the rehab centre runs out of funding and starts to stumble into debt. The government then intervenes and shuts the centre down. For example in December of 2015, a rehab centre known as The Three Voices of Healing was forced to shut down because of the unpaid expenses and the crippling debt they were in. As much as the First Nations Health Authority tried, they were unsuccessful in keeping the centre running. This was due to the underfunding and assistance from the government, and the underwhelming support from outside communities. The closing of these rehab centres result in individuals being sent away while mid treatment. This results in them falling back into substance abuse. These are the main reasons that contribute to the growth of substance abuse in aboriginal communities.

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artistic drawing of the voices that are missing in this injustice

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The voices that are missing

The main thing that is truly missing from the published research available is the perspectives of the aboriginal communities. While researching, I mainly came across websites that gave an outside perspective on the issue at hand. Most of these websites were government run, which made me realize how bias these perspectives can be. The government websites have wrote their articles in a way to make it seem that they are doing all they can to help these communities and that it is the community itself that is preventing the solution. Obviously the Canadian government does not want to look bad so they are going to be bias in order to keep a healthy reputation. From the perspective of the Canadian government, they are trying to resolve the issue and are still doing things to further better the situation, but they still have to deal with a lot of other problems. Therefore they are not going to put a lot of effort into this injustice but make it seem like they are, because they have a lot of other issues to deal with. For example an article done by the National Post displayed pictures of aboriginal communities with vulgar statements about the police placed on the walls on their homes. This made it seem like the community is the one is not willing to resolve the issue. This leads many outsiders to believe that substance abuse within these communities are not an injustice at all, but rather a problem the community has created. This is why I truly believe that light needs to be shed on the perspectives of the people living within these communities. It is very hard to find articles that are not written by the government but by the victims themselves and the problems they have faced. There are so many stories to be told by individuals that have gone through addictions or have witnessed the repercussions of addictions firsthand.  For example, we rarely hear about the documentary called We Are Children, and Glen Anaquod’s story about his trauma and troubles with substance abuse. Doug Doolittle along with the many other nameless victim’s story about their experience with substance abuse would change the perspective of many people who only see one side of the injustice. If these victims stories were actually shown to the world, then I truly believe a lot more will be done to help these collapsing communities. This is why I believe that the voices of the victims need to be heard.

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An Aboriginal boy growing up in a world of substance abuse and violence

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The Catholic View

Our Catholic faith teaches us about how this injustice in aboriginal communities goes against what our religion stands for. First of all this injustice goes completely against many of the catholic social teachings. It completely disregards Human Dignity because these communities are not treated like a human should be properly treated. There is no justice in letting a community suffer from PTSD and fall further and further into addictions. The fact that the issue is becoming worse and suicide rates are rising because of it, goes to show how it goes against human dignity. It also goes against the social teaching of solidarity. The very little help that these communities are receiving, proves that we are not truly coming together as one in solidarity to resolve this injustice which is taking place in our own backyard. 

The Catechism states:  “Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common good”. This teaches us as Catholics that it is our duty to make sure we keep our gift of life holy by keeping ourselves and others healthy throughout our lives. It explains that we should not only worry about the health of ourselves but also the health of others. Therefore in this situation the Catechism explains that we need to go out of our way to help these aboriginal communities escape the heavy use of drugs and alcohol and help them become much healthier individuals. By going out of our way to make a difference in these communities, we are being moral, ethical, and spiritual in God’s eyes.

The Catechism also states, “The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices gravely contrary to the moral law”. Through a catholic lens this shows that the use of drugs or the contribution of drug use is a direct form of evil because it conflicts with the gift of life. So by abusing drugs and alcohol or by selling drugs and alcohol, we are directly going against God. This relates directly to substance abuse in aboriginal communities because by letting these individuals use drugs and allow the easy access of drug trafficking, then we are contributing to evil. 

Another view pertaining to this injustice can be taken directly from the bible. In Matthew 22: 36-40, Jesus explains to his disciple the most important commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”. This quote shows exactly how our faith wants us to respond to this growing issue. The Catholic faith informs us to love the aboriginal community and do what we can to help. In this case these reserves are our neighbors and it is our duty to make sure that we love our neighbors. 

Lastly, Pope Francis stated: “With evil, there can be no yielding or compromise. To think that harm can be reduced by permitting drug addicts to use narcotics,” he said, “in no way resolves the problem.” Substitute drugs, he affirmed, “are not an adequate therapy but rather a veiled means of surrendering to the problem…no to every type of drug use!”. Pope Francis explains that the use of drugs is a grave offense and the only way to solve this is to eliminate the use of drugs. This once again proves that our religion informs us to take action against this injustice and to do only what’s morally right, eliminating the issue of substance abuse in aboriginal communities. This how our Catholic faiths informs us to respond to this growing injustice.

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prescription drugs are commonly used in these aboriginal communities.