Six Nations Health Services (SNHS) is holding its annual Overdose Awareness Day event next week, with this year's focus surrounding breaking the stigma behind substance abuse and uplifting community voices.

The event will place on Aug. 31 which is recognized as the International Overdose Awareness Day at Veterans Park.

Eve Kahama, SNHS Drug Strategy Coordinator, says the event will feature four members of the Six Nations community speaking to attendees about their journey of healing through their substance abuse battle.

"This year, what we're doing is we really want uplift community voices. So we are having four people coming together and sharing their journeys of healing and not only that but also sharing some of the trials and tribulations that they've had as well as some uplifting memories."

The event will also feature different Six Nations community services attending, including mental health and addictions and the Six Nations Crisis Hub, to educate the audience on drug and substance abuse. Naloxone training and self care kits will also be available.

Currently, the community is facing a stigma associated with drug and substance abuse because people may be scared of seeking support services and what implications come from that, Kahama said. She also spoke on how the community can look to counter the stigma associated with substance abuse and says its important for the community to educate themselves on the issue and start looking at drug addiction and substance abuse more as an illness rather than moral weakness.

"I think starting by actually talking about it and doing a lot of education so spreading awareness, talking about it, treating it like an illness and not like a moral weakness, just really trying to break that stigma," she said.

"That stigma creates barriers. By us talking about substance abuse as it would be any other illness such as cancer, diabetes instead of us treating it like it is a moral weakness or a failing. Making sure that we're also listening and empathizing with our community members and or friends or family who are struggling with substance abuse and making sure we let them know that there are services available for them."

Kahama says that Black, Indigenous and persons of colour (BIPOC) all have increased rates of falling victim to drug and substance abuse due to colonization and loss of culture.

"I would say not just Six Nations band members, but people of colour and Indigenous people across the board have at least twice higher likelihood of facing substance abuse," she said.

"Of course, as we know, due to a lot of trauma, due to colonization, due to loss of culture, all of these things combined have a lot to due with the higher overdose rates that we see in indigenous communities than we do see in other communities."

According to Brant County Health Unit, Brant County sits above the Ontario average in the rate of opioid related emergency department visits (per 100,000). Brant County sits at a rate of 15.7 meanwhile the Ontario average sits at 5.1. Kahama says SNHS are currently working with Six Nations Police and Six Nations Paramedics to track the number of overdoses that take place within Six Nations to then put forth an action plan on ways they can decrease overdoses happening in the community.

She says that like other communities in the area, Six Nations has seen a rise in the number of overdoses to community members. She says a number of different factors play a part in this including people struggling to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"People are more isolated than normal, people don't have the same community that they've had. We know that drugs are becoming cheaper, fentanyl is becoming cheaper to sell and that means that its easier to access. And as well drugs are contaminated. So a lot of the times people might try and go to get cocaine and instead it is contaminated with fentanyl and that's why people are overdosing at a much higher rate. So I think those three things combined have contributed to a much higher rise."

Six Nations Crisis Hub is available to all community members facing a crisis, naloxone kits and overdose response training are available Monday-Friday from 8 a.m-11 p.m.

Overdose Awareness Day will run at Veterans Park in Ohsweken from 4-8 p.m. on Aug. 31.

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