Senator Gold, in smaller Yukon communities, an auntie or other well-respected individual has been able to obtain a significant number of naloxone kits and share them in the community as needed. It’s an important link in less populated places where there is no pharmacy and individuals are not necessarily comfortable going to the health centre or another service location, or where these locations are limited or hard to reach. The Non-Insured Health Benefits Program, which provides extended health benefits such as pharmaceutical drugs and naloxone kits for First Nations people, has recently made a decision to limit coverage for bulk purchases of naloxone kits.

Senator Gold, is this the first time you’ve been made aware of this decision by the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program?

Yes, it is, and thank you for bringing it to my attention. The opioid crisis that has ravaged so many of our communities is a national tragedy. Equally disturbing is the information you’ve just shared — that a drug that could save lives, if administered properly, were someone to suffer an overdose, may not be available as needed. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I was not aware of this.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Yukon communities are continuing to be disproportionately impacted by the opioid crisis, being the Canadian jurisdiction with the second-highest rate of opioid deaths from January to March this year, after British Columbia, and having had the highest rate in 2021.

Senator Gold, this policy change jeopardizes harm reduction efforts, especially in Yukon’s remote First Nations communities. One Yukon coalition, a First Nation non-profit community health organization, has written to Minister Holland and other relevant federal and territorial —

Thank you for further enlightening me on this. I’m glad that it was brought to the minister’s attention, and I will certainly undertake to do my part to bring it to the minister’s attention as well.