The Downtown Eastside - How the opioid crisis left Vancouver civilians destitute
There is a transparent and drastic disproportion between Indigenous (specifically Indigenous women) and non-Indigenous victims of the opioid crisis in Vancouver, as well as the province. In 2022, the First Nations people of BC died at 5.9 times the rate of non-indigenous residents. That is 373 indigenous lives lost due to the toxicity of the drugs being sourced by suppliers. It has been eight years (April 14th, 2016) since the BC government declared a public health emergency into substance-related abuse and harm, yet ghastly mortality rates continue to climb each year. Within the years of the announcement and September 2023, a minimum of 13,000 deaths as a result of unregulated drugs were recorded in BC.
Vancouver’s remarkably vilified neighbourhood, the Downtown Eastside, holds the highest overdose-related death count in the city, both in number and in rate. The population maintains grievous rates of low-income (67%) and unemployed (22%) residents, additionally, 40% rely on government-issued payments (which ceased in 2001). Within Metro Vancouver we are facing a chronic homelessness crisis, in 2020, 3,634 individuals identified themselves as homeless. The Homelessness Services Association produced a report uncovering that in 2023 this number had risen to 4,821, a 32% increase compared to the survey three years prior. A popular housing solution for the DTES’s homeless population became SROs, by definition “single room occupancy” refers to SRO hotels, rooming homes, and all non-marketed housing with rooms measuring less than 320 square feet. These rooms can vary in comfort drastically, many easily accessible options are built in large open areas and prioritize bare-minimum functionality over all else. In contrast, individuals with the means could experience SROs with hotel-like luxury. An appealing aspect of SROs was the SRA (single-room accommodation by law), which protected the DTES residents from displacement and the loss of affordable pricing for low-income housing. In 1986, the City of Vancouver hosted the World Expedition, with the influx of travellers numerous long-term tenants were forcibly evicted for their properties to be converted into tourist-specific hotels. These sudden renovations caused the loss of 400 low-income resident homes.
The deadly root of the hundreds of overdoses spanning BC is contamination. Toxicity rates continue to increase, as drugs such as fentanyl and carfentanil become commonly combined with recreational and regulated substances. This cruel attempt at saving funds has resulted in 1,897 deaths since the year 2016, with many using in isolation. The reports of the deaths of indigenous women, children, and elders often go ignored due to the city’s desensitization to systemic racism, homelessness, disproportional news media representation and public drug use, according to FNHA’s (First Nations Health Authority) acting chief medical officer Doctor. N. Weiman, over a third of indigenous victims (36.5%) were female. This means First Nations women are currently dying at 11.2 times the rate of other female residents in BC, with less than a quarter of all toxic drug-related deaths in the first three months of 2023 being women. The Cedar project reported that indigenous youth who used drugs had 13 times the fatality risk of non-indigenous Canadians their age. The numbers you’ve read are lives that had potential, a statement from Mary Teegee, Executive Director of Child and Family Services and chair of The Cedar Project Partnership, describes the grief carried by the community with wisdom and poise; “These deaths involve our relations, our loved ones. They carry with them deep personal sorrow. Since this analysis was completed, we have lost 26 more of our children – 16 women and girls. Why do our children continue to die?”
