Close to 100 people died this year from drug addiction in the Pelly-Kamsack area, according to Senator Ted Quewezance of Keeseekoose First Nation.
Quewezance, the head of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nation’s Senate, made that claim during a citizens’ forum at the Treaty 4 Gathering in Fort Qu’Appelle on September 16.
In August Quewezance had lobbied doctors in Halifax during the Canadian Medical Association’s (CMA) annual meeting.
Quewezance had attended the meeting to get support for a health strategy for The Key, Cote and Keeseekoose First Nations, said a story by Mervin Brass which was carried on the Treaty 4 News website (treaty4news.com).
“This year…we had about 98 deaths, all of them in regards to prescription drugs, methadone and also hard drugs,” said Quewezance. “Out of all those deaths we only had one natural death, which was an Elder.”
Quewezance says the CMA passed five resolutions supporting its community strategy, Brass’s story said. “Before lobbying the CMA, Quewezance got a resolution passed by the Assembly of First Nations to approach the doctors that’s based on the health recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”
