Yukon reports 1 suspected and 2 confirmed opioid-related deaths

The Yukon Coroner's Service is reporting one suspected and two confirmed opioid-related deaths.

These bring the total number of opioid-related deaths in the territory this year up to nine, with a possible tenth still under investigation.

In an update, the coroner's service said the deaths happened between Jan. 5 and Feb. 22. It said fentanyl was confirmed in all nine of the cases, with the tenth one pending.

The update stated that eight of the 10 deaths were in Whitehorse. It also said that seven of the people were Indigenous, and that five of them were men and five were women.

"The [Yukon Coroner's Service] is beginning to see more First Nations citizens being affected, as well as more women and people in younger age groups. Alcohol remains a factor in many cases," the update states.

It added that benzodiazepines had been confirmed in three of the cases.

The 10 deaths represent 40 per cent of all cases investigated so far this year by the coroner's service, which has a mandate to investigate all sudden, unexpected deaths in the territory.

2021 statistics

In 2021, the coroner's service said, there were 24 opioid-related deaths in the territory.

Of those, 20 were in Whitehorse. Sixteen were male and eight were female, and 14 were non-Indigenous while 10 were Indigenous. Fentanyl was involved in every one of the deaths.

"These deaths were preventable and our communities continue to struggle with the grief and pain associated with the loss of life from the substance use health crisis," Heather Jones, Yukon's chief coroner, said in the update.

Last November, she said the territory had the highest rate of deaths due to opioids in the country, at 48.4 deaths per 100,000 people.

Between 2016 and 2019, 23 people in the territory died from opioids, according to Jones.

Brontë Renwick-Shields, executive director of Blood Ties Four Directions, a Yukon harm reduction organization, said her group sees a growing problem.

"We have seen, of course, an increased demand for our services with the increasing number of overdoses that we're seeing in our community," she said.

In light of the deaths, the territorial government declared a substance use health emergency on Jan. 20.

It indicated it was working on a number of initiatives including, among others, "enhancing the government's supervised consumption site." It also said it was expanding drug testing and a safe supply program to rural communities, and increasing these efforts in Whitehorse.

In its update, the coroner's service said that since the health emergency was declared, the hours at the Whitehorse safe consumption site had increased, along with emergency measures and medical service staff at the Whitehorse Emergency Shelter.