‘Culture saves lives’: B.C.'s first Indigenous youth detox program launches but faces uncertain future
Orca Lelum's Indigenous youth detox program launches following recent overdose deaths in the community, including artist Joel Good
By Alexandra Keeler
Cries of grief echoed through a packed gymnasium at the Snuneymuxw Recreation and Wellness Centre on Sept. 5, as family members of Joel Good approached the late artist and master carver’s open casket.
Good, 40, who just a year earlier had received the City of Nanaimo's 2023 Excellence in Culture Award for his art, had died of an overdose.
Good’s death was not the only recent tragedy to beset the Snuneymuxw First Nation, a community of 2,000 on Vancouver Island's eastern coast. Community member Mellissa Seward, 40, also died of an overdose in late August.
“It's all our people and kids dying,” said William Yoachim, executive director at Kwu’mut Lelum Child and Family Services in Nanaimo, an Indigenous social services organization that serves Snuneymuxw First Nation and other nearby Indigenous communities. At Good's prayer service, community members emphasized the need for urgent action to help those struggling with addiction.
Orca Lelum, a detox centre and youth recovery program in Lantzville, B.C., is eager to respond to their call. The centre is set to be the first facility in B.C. to offer culturally relevant detox services for Indigenous youth.
But the centre’s leaders are frustrated by what they describe as financial and bureaucratic hurdles to getting their organization off the ground, when delays have life-or-death consequences for the youth who need their help.
Orca Lelum
Indigenous people are disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis: in 2023, their overdose rate was six times that of B.C.’s general population.
“This was a 10.3 per cent increase [in overdose deaths] from 2022,” said Dr. Nel Wieman, chief medical officer of the First Nations Health Authority, at an Oct. 8 meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.
“Data are not just numbers. They represent our family members, our aunties, our youth, our elders. They are loved and missed,” she told committee members, who are studying federal and provincial policy responses to Canada’s opioid crisis.
A 2020 journal study found Indigenous youth are more likely to use substances than their non-Indigenous peers — a trend strongly linked to intergenerational trauma caused by colonialism, residential schools and systemic alienation. Research shows these traumas contribute to early substance use.
“For First Nations people, most often the underlying reason why people choose to use substances is trauma,” said Wieman. “Whether that’s historical experiences of trauma, contemporary experiences of trauma, intergenerational experiences of trauma.”
“A lot of Indigenous folks [have been] displaced. [They] are not knowing who they are, and if they do know who they are, they hate themselves,” said Yoachim, who leads the broader Kwu’mut Lelum network of which Orca Lelum is a part.
Recognizing these challenges, Orca Lelum’s wellness programming is designed to foster recovery and healing by helping Indigenous youth reconnect with their cultural identities, traditions and communities.
“Rooted in Indigenous ways of being, we help to empower young people to reclaim their strength, resilience and cultural identity,” Orca Lelum’s mission statement says. “We strive to instill a profound sense of purpose and connection that goes beyond treatment.”
The centre has 10 beds for medically supervised detox and 10 beds for a 10-week wellness program for youth aged 12 to 18. The acute detox program has not yet launched due to challenges securing operational funding. The wellness program launched in June.
Emmy Manson, the centre’s wellness director, says that each day of the 10-week wellness program begins in a circle with prayers, songs and storytelling led by cultural workers. Youth participate in activities like traditional language learning, singing, brushing, bathing rituals and medicine walks to reconnect with their heritage.
"Each of the 10 weeks is connected to a value, [with] teachings connected to that value — we call this circle work,” said Manson.
"Youth have connection[s] to counselors, psychiatric nurses, horse therapy, canoe pulling, teachings about medicine from the land, breath work, and attendance to 12-step meetings."
In the later weeks of the program, the centre shifts its focus to preparing youth for life outside of the centre. It connects youth with local resources, including housing assistance, to facilitate community reintegration once they leave.
Challenges
Yoachim has been frustrated by the slow pace of getting Orca Lelum’s detox program launched.
“If someone’s at the door saying, ‘I want to help my life,’ and they’re on God-knows-what — help them,” Yoachim said. “Don’t say, ‘Come back when you dry up.”
“That’s where we’re losing everyone,” he said.
In April, the B.C. government announced a $7.1-million commitment to Orca Lelum as part of a broader $171-million budget for Indigenous-led treatment and recovery services. Island Health, a provincial health agency, contributed an additional $1 million to support the centre’s launch.
“The Premier announced they support this, but the bureaucrats seem to want to butt heads on everything,” said Yoachim.
Federal and provincial funding for Orca Lelum's initiatives are funneled through the First Nations Health Authority, an agency that manages health services for Indigenous communities across B.C. The agency declined to say how much total funding has been committed to Orca Lelum.
“The FNHA supports the work of Orca Lelum, which provides critical, culturally safe care and support to Indigenous youth facing challenges with mental health and addiction,” Anne Williams, the agency’s communications director, told Canadian Affairs in an emailed statement.
Island Health directed Canadian Affairs’ inquiries about funding and bureaucratic delays to the provincial government. The B.C. Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Yoachim says government agencies have been hesitant to fully endorse Orca Lelum’s detox program due to concerns about what they view as “excessive medical risks” associated with medically supervised withdrawal. This process is considered high risk because it may lead to complications requiring additional, specialized medical support.
“They're like, ‘We'll talk about it,’ or ‘Let's discuss that down the road. We gotta learn more about your model, blah, blah, blah,’ … every lip-service excuse,” said Yoachim.
“The ironic thing is, the doctor that's on contract with us is a doctor that's on contract with other detox places.”
Dr. Barbara Constance Fehlau serves as Orca Lelum's detox specialist. She is a board-certified family physician with expertise in addiction medicine and chronic pain, and is recognized by the B.C. government as a qualified provider. She is listed in the B.C. government’s Medical Services Commission financial statement for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, under the payments to practitioners section.
Yoachim believes the slow pace in launching Orca Lelum reflects broader issues around supporting Indigenous-led organizations. “I think people are struggling with us because we're an Indigenous organization,” he said.
Wieman, of the First Nation Health Authority, agrees.
In her statements to the House committee on Canada’s opioid crisis, she highlighted the challenges First Nations groups often face securing long-term, sustainable government funding.
“While progress has been made, we continue to face significant barriers,” she said. She pointed to challenges accessing substance-use services and a “lack of long-term, sustained and flexible funding, including for cultural programming.”
“Culture saves lives for First Nations people,” she said.
In September, Yoachim informed Canadian Affairs that the province had committed to funding Orca Lelum for two years.
"There are other entities we still need to bring to the table, like FNHA and Island Health. There are lots of moving pieces, but since we talked, the provincial government stepped up hugely," he said.
But the long-term future of the centre’s detox and wellness programs both remain uncertain, he says. “Long term, no, [funding is not secured]. “But [it’s enough] to get the doors open and moving.”
This article was produced through the Breaking Needles Fellowship Program, which provided a grant to Canadian Affairs, a digital media outlet, to fund journalism exploring addiction and crime in Canada. Articles produced through the Fellowship are co-published by Break The Needle and Canadian Affairs.
“hesitant to fully endorse Orca Lelum’s detox program due to concerns about what they view as “excessive medical risks” associated with medically supervised withdrawal. This process is considered high risk because it may lead to complications requiring additional, specialized medical support.”
This will no doubt be because they actually intend to detox these children and then support them to wellness, ending would be a lifetime of addiction continuation via regulated prescribed pharmaceuticals under the guise of treatment. This is a massive reinvasion of their culture, by the white man, who think land acknowledgement mean something, and the attempt to FORCE the BC approach of prescribing more highly dangerous & addictive drugs upon our First Nation brothers & sisters.
This is a massive story that deserves full disclosure for all citizens to see. Tip of the iceberg.