355 Kilometres for Change: Muskoday Walkers Call for Action on Overdose Crisis

355 kilometres in 7 days.

A group from Muskoday First Nation have taken a long walk from their home community, arriving at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina on June 17, to raise awareness to the crystal meth and fentanyl overdose crisis.

“We are doing this because there are overdoses all over the place, and it’s not being reported,” said Betty Prosper, a former addictions counsellor and member of Muskoday First Nation.

“It’s getting to the point where you can’t even mourn someone because five days later, there’s another overdose. We are losing whole generations of moms, dads, aunts, uncles. Even some grandparents are using this stuff too. Who is going to look after the kids?” said Prosper.

At the conclusion of their walk, the group were joined by Betty Nippi-Albright, the Saskatchewan NDP MLA for Saskatoon Centre, and Trent Wotherspoon, NDP MLA for Regina Mount Royal.

Prosper said she hopes that the support of these politicians means their message of need will be met with the resources they require to start building a healthier community.

“We need more mental health awareness, more mental health workers, more addiction workers. We need a detox in each reserve,” said Erica Hennie, Well-Being and Maternal Child Health Coordinator at Muskoday Community Health Centre.

Hennie said with the typical two week wait times for a bed in a detox centre, people often lose the ability or motivation by the time one becomes available. She said it’s imperative for resources to be available in each community when a person wants and needs them.

“There’s a lot of intergenerational trauma, and people just don’t have the tools. They start using and it becomes the norm in the household, so their children continue that cycle. This is a learned behaviour,” said Hennie.

Both Hennie and Prosper say they’ve seen a huge spike in drug use and overdoses since the community received their ‘Cows and Plows’ settlement payments in December and January. The ‘Cows and Plows’ is financial compensation for historical injustices to First Nations.

“Since we got our Cows and Plows, there’s been two or three funerals a week,” said Hennie.

“As soon as communities got their money, a lot of dealers are coming into the neighbourhood. They’re preying on our people, especially the ones with addiction,” said Prosper. “There’s a lot of theft, a lot of prostitution – addicts will do anything to get that money.”

Prosper said the crystal meth and fentanyl crisis is severely under-reported due to individuals not seeking help or reporting overdoses to health authorities. She said two households in the community keep a steady supply of Naloxone – a fast-acting medication used to temporarily reverse the side effects of opioid overdoses. Individuals would rather go to these private homes then the health clinic, they said.

“The Health Centre doesn’t even know how many people have gone to get Naloxone,” said Prosper.

“It’s all over, when you know what you’re looking for. When you walk around with your rose-coloured glasses on, you don’t see it. You don’t see the kids being hungry, the people falling apart, people sleeping in the corner,” she said.

Prosper and Hennie said they need their communities to start healing, which would require the proper addictions and mental heath supports to deal with the crisis.

And, like Prosper, who overcame her own addiction and has been 27 years sober, they’d like to see other people who have battled addiction come forward and play a role in stopping the overdose crisis.

“We want more people to come out who overcame their own addiction,” said Hennie. “Without those stories, no one will know or understand that they too can get out of it. That gives people hope.”