Canada's First Nations Crisis Our World

This week we report on an epidemic of drug abuse that is affecting

I don't have anything to do. would steal from the store. I would

still so my could -- I would steal so my kids could eat. Canada's

First Nations people are in crisis. Addiction to painkillers is rife

and it is devastating the communities. We had homicides,

prescription drug abuse. Oxycontin is widely abused in Canada. But on

isolated reserves, people talk of an epidemic. If they do not get a

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 40 seconds

handle on this, they could be wiped As the sun rises, we are heading to

one of the most isolated communities. Fort Hope is home to

around 1,200 people. We have been told that 80% of the adult

population there are addicted to From Toronto, with travel north.

The regional gateway to northern Ontario. We there you take a small

commuter plane. -- from. For most of the year, it is the only way to

get there, apart from a six-week window in winter when you can drive

across the frozen lakes. There are 49 Aboriginal reserves in this part

of Canada. It is home to people who knew this land long before the

arrival of Europeans. The serenity and beauty of this place in winter

conceals the crisis within. This native community has been one of

the worst hit by the surge in prescription drug abuse. This woman

has become more interested in her native heritage since she stopped

taking the drug. At a ceremony, herbs are burned to cleanse the

spirit. With the community overwhelmed by

addiction, traditional rituals and social gatherings are much rarer.

Doris Slipperjack was hooked on the drug for four years. She spent

thousands of dollars on getting high. All of her welfare benefits.

Sometimes I would pitch in for a $20 line, just enough to get a shot.

If not up to $50 or $100. And in the next few days I would blow it

all. How did you live? I would steal from the store, just

something for my children to eat. She has been to re-hab and is now

on treatment. But getting clean has been a hard road. Not just for her

but her children as well. I am still dealing with it. It is

actually difficult for me to face them every day. I hurt them so much.

I don't even know where to begin. The cost of an 80 milligram tablet

can be as high as $600. One of the biggest challenges is stemming the

flow of this highly addictive drug. Airport searches are infrequent.

Reserve rules state they can only be conducted by one of the

community's council members. The chief is in charge of today's

search. When we visit, officers from the

Native Mission Police Service are on hand with a sniffer dog. This is

the only canine on the force and is trained to find the drug.

When we get a tip from out of town, police notified us, sometimes we do

successful searches and sometimes not. That is our goal do get the

drug off the street. This time, nothing is found. The police

attachment is small - one sergeant and four constables on rotation.

With so many communities, the visits are rare. Today, he has

flown in for a briefing. Good morning. Now they are hiding the

stuff in their bodies. And now the winter roads are open so they are

coming up through vehicles. It is harder for us. Harder to get

information from the community. There are many who do not want to

sign up and start ratting on people. Sometimes we find them on searchers.

They can put the pills inside storage containers and that is how

they can smuggle it. Sometimes we find things like this on winter

roads as well. What is that? This is a medical sterile cup. They will

crush the pills, place it inside the cup in powder form, seal it

with a lighter, fill it with a cotton swab, then fill up the

needle and inject it. Injecting is the number one way that people use

the drug in the communities, versus just taking the pills. The effects

are much quicker. We are shown the impact of the drug. It is shocking.

How much crime do you have in the community that is a direct result

of OxyContin? A lot of property crime - break and enters, property

theft. People use the stuff to buy their drugs. At some point, you had

some pretty serious criminal activity here, didn't you? We had

two homicides in 2010. It was out of control. And 49 arsons.

arsons? Yes. We are at the Health Centre. We had

a couple of break-ins here in the last three or four weeks. Last time,

they did some damage. Over $5,000 of damage was done inside. You can

see the corner with the black marks on the side. That is where they

tried to burn the building down. it also about trying to get drugs

out of the building? It is more about stealing stuff to sell to buy

the drugs. That house was burnt down. They tear down the buildings

afterwards. That house was built on top. Where the people are standing,

that was burned. There is not much left to burn, really. I am not sure

what they will burn this year. you look outside, you can see some

of the houses that are almost like Third World living conditions.

have people who do not go to school or stay in school. Social problems

are high. People are bored. They have nothing to do, most of them.

They look at drugs as a way to kill that pain or emptiness that they

have. And this place is not alone. Canada's native communities are

vulnerable. Poverty and a lack of opportunity are endemic.

There is little recreation here but the Constable doubles as a DJ at

weekend dances. Alcohol and drugs are banned from the reserve. The

result of the community's troubled history. So these evenings are

attempts to create diversions, especially for young people.

After a lot of encouragement, the chief takes to the floor. It is a

moment of lightness for a community struggling to confront its demons.

Harry was elected chief last year. Just before he took over, the

council resorted to desperate measures. We had arson, homicides,

prescription drug abuses. We said, hey, enough is enough. We decided

to call a state of emergency. is still a real threat. This police

truck was torched in November. Fort Hope was the first native reserve

in Ontario to declare a state of emergency as a result of the threat

posed by OxyContin. There are empty homes, you could say. No furniture,

no television in some cases. The children are going hungry as well.

We want to see the parents care for the children but they cannot do

that because they are hooked on the stuff.

When they called a state of emergency, they got back up from

the Ontario police. Typically, they will be distributed up in the north

from that location. According to this Sergeant, you can buy the

pills in cities like Toronto for $40 a tablet. You can purchase it

for $40. Get it up to a community like this, or others like it, and

sell it for up to $600. The profit margin is ridiculous. Criminals and

A morning rendition of the Canadian national anthem in the native

language. The children here are from

communities like Fort Hope. They come here to finish their high-

school education and stay with local families while they are here.

In 2010, the staff at the school realised some of the students were

in trouble. They came and said they had a problem. They tried something

new and then were addicted. They spoke up and said, we need some

assistance and we want to try and clean ourselves up and get healthy.

I am just going to take your pulse today. Today's dose will be four

milligrams, OK? The answer - a pioneering programme using a drug

used to wean addicts off, in the same way methadone is prescribed to

heroin users. This woman is one of those leading the treatment for

addicts, including teenagers. you are without the drug, you go

into withdrawal. They come in with pain, joint pain, they have lots of

stomach upsets. They offer them a treatment with a replacement

therapy. We wean them down over a period of 30 days from a higher

dose while the drug is coming out of their system and then leave them

on maintenance. OK, see you Today I am going to hand you a

piece of paper. We are educating them on triggers. We are trying to

make them stronger emotionally to say no to the drug. I do not know

how to deal with my emotions at all. I turned to the drug to deal with

the pain and the emotions. This lady has flown down to speak at a

conference a few miles from the high school. Young people from all

over Canada are here. We want to talk about prescription drugs. We

want to go right into the life of a drug addict. James Morris run this

organisation which funded a film about Doris and her struggles with

addiction. I would like to ask Doris to come up. I feel like I

have been set free. But I am still working on it. It is a never-ending

battle. I will battle until my time is up. I know I am never going to

be normal. I do not know what normal is. People from the reserves

from Northern Ontario have gravitated here. Historically, it

was a watch tower for the Sioux warriors. Now it is home to a brand

new hospital. Meno Ya Win Health Centre is unlike any other. In

keeping with the aboriginal sensibilities of the population,

there is a traditional healing room. There is even moose on the menu.

OxyContin is leaving its mark. has become the drug of choice. We

have seen it to the point that has had a huge impact on the northern

communities. It is more accessible to young people. They come, often,

as you are aware, as new mothers. We have a lot of work to do.

started seeing women admitting to using the drug and babies were

badly affected. They were affected by withdrawal. In a 2010 study, Dr

Dooley found that over 17% of the babies born at the hospital had

been exposed to the drug in the womb. So the amount the women are

prescribed to is slowly taken down. They can either stop completely or

have it on such a small dose that the actual likelihood of withdrawal

in the baby is absent. For the first half of her pregnancy,

Jennifer, who did not want to be identified, was injecting the drug.

The doctor said that I should not withdraw. I would be sick or just

feeling unwell. I would be nauseous if I came off just before she was

born. They do suffer with the treatment. What is the long-term

effect? That is not really known. Jennifer knows of babies who were

born withdrawn. The babies may be going through problems later on in

life. Some kids are older and have problems eating and sleeping. While

she is waiting to deliver, Jennifer is staying in the purpose-built

hospital attached to the main hospital. James Morris has been

involved in this area of work for decades. His organisation runs a

hostel and it has recently been turned into a youth conference.

When it comes to addiction he has seen it all. People have problems

with all kinds of things. In the 50s it was alcohol. In the late 80s

and 90s it was gasoline sniffing. The environment these people live

in, the reserve, is what causes all of these problems. But OxyContin is

particularly nasty? Very nasty. It is insidious and non-stop. The

amount of people who are addicted to alcohol... You can sober up

until your next drink but with this drug the addiction is constant.

Back in Fort Hope, Dave Waswa knows the problem all too well. I am just

wondering where my next fix will come from. It has taken a lot away

from me. I have hurt a lot of people. My children. My parents. My

girlfriend, friends, a lot of people. Just because of my

addiction. I just want to see what it is like being clean. This is

some art you have been making? You are using the money from this

to finance your habit? Yes. many pills will this beautiful

eagle get you? Six. How long will those six pills last and keep you

going? One day, one day and a half. The more I have the more I take.

Fort Hope has used its own resources to start a treatment

programme. Dave Waswa is hoping to get on it but 29 people are on the

waiting list. Chief Papah has other plans for his community. This is

the most efficient way of getting around here. We are going to a

place that is underdeveloped. His vision is to create somewhere

recovering addicts and their families can go to hunt, fish and

heal. This is a model of what you want to create? A kind of

traditional centre for people who are trying to overcome their

addictions? Yes, correct. It is our belief that you find your true self

by fishing, trapping and hunting. That is who we are. In order for us

to move on, we have to look at forgiveness for whatever has

happened. We have to be open with the issues. I think it is the worst

have not addressed the root causes for addiction. Much of that is how

poor they are, the overcrowded housing, the lack of the economy.

We do not have jobs, we do not have the manufacturing, it is very

difficult to live in the north. But that is their home. That is where

they live and that is traditionally where they have always lived.

they do not get a handle on this, communities will be worked out in

five years. The number of people who are going to be addicted is

going to be so high that communities will cease to function

altogether. I am hopeful. I am seeing change. There has been more

people that are signing up for detox and treatment and doing

whatever they can to stop but there has been a lot of people that are

talking about it. That is always the first step. I noticed the

change in myself. I have become more honest and open. I just have

to get more in touch with myself and my family and children. I

cannot wait to go back to school and hopefully get my high-school

diploma and college maybe, university. But now I have grown up