All language subtitles for Kimmapiiyipitssini.The.Meaning.Of.Empathy.2021.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG

Are you dreaming?

Are you dreaming?

Have you got your mommy's face?

Yeah, holding him, like,

just so he feels all,

feels something all around.

If you leave him
lying on the bed, to um...

You know how grandmas
wrap them really tight?

That helps him
to feel secure, hey?

And he still wants
to curl his little feet up

like he's inside you. See?

Do you hear your mama's voice?

Hmm? Is she here?

How many people
have we lost to this crisis?

I would say we've lost hundreds.

These people are children.

These are brothers and sisters,
and these are aunts and uncles,

and even
grandparents and parents,

so we've lost a good part
of a generation of people,

because most of the people
we've lost

are in their 20s and 30s,

and so many children now
are growing up without parents,

and some are completely orphaned

and now are being raised
in foster-care systems

which are very much
like residential school

in some places,

so we've lost a lot of power
in our community

because of what those people
could have contributed

to the health of our community.

Instead,
they've contributed to grief,

and left a big hole
in our community.

This is home, Kainai,

otherwise known as Kainai
or the Blood Reserve.

It's one of four nations within
the Blackfoot Confederacy.

Nestled in the foothills
of the Rocky Mountains

in what is now known
as the Province of Alberta,

Kainai spans
over 1,400 square kilometres,

and is the largest reserve
in Canada.

This land has nourished
and sustained us

as a people, as Niitsitapi,

since time immemorial.

Beginning in 2014,

fentanyl, a synthetic opioid

50 to 100 times
more powerful than morphine,

flooded the illicit drug trade
on the reserve.

There isn't a single member
of our tribe

who has not lost a loved one
to this crisis.

This new reality
has forced our community

to approach addiction
in radically different ways.

As one of the few medical
doctors working on the reserve,

my mother,
Dr. Esther Tailfeathers,

has been a frontline witness
to the crisis.

I've listened many times

as she's shared her grief,
sorrow, and frustrations.

She, like so many others
from our community,

is motivated
to fight for solutions.

There are three main communities
on the reserve,

Standoff, Moses Lake,
and Levern.

30 kilometres of highway

stretches between
each of these communities.

Okay, so you wanted stats.

That's when we first started

taking the stats
for the overdoses,

June 2014,
all the way up to November 2016.

This is the one that's really,
um, really bothersome to me,

and this is
the prenatal substance abuse.

That means that the mothers
are taking these drugs,

and their babies are being born
in withdrawal from these drugs.

Is it... is it permanent,
or can effects be reversed?

It's a new phenomenon.

We're not really sure
of what the brain,

um, what happens to the,
to the infant's brain.

We do know
that their risk for, um,

their risk for addiction
later in life

is really high,

'cause they were already
born addicted, eh?

The worst thing is that
they have to go through

what they call
neonatal abstinence syndrome,

so once they're born,

then they start them on, um,
morphine, morphine tapering,

so the kid
doesn't go through withdrawal

and die from the withdrawals.

Uh, what happens
to the children?

As soon as
they're born like this,

Children's Services takes over,

and the best-case scenario

is that the mother
be still in the environment

and be able
to bond with the child,

and that's so important
for our children

to be able to stay
with their families, eh?

'Kay, next one, Máijá.

This is the, um, Insite.

That's the safe-injection site
and detox.

During my research
for this film,

I spent time learning
from harm-reduction advocates

on Vancouver's
Downtown East Side.

I wanted to share what
I had learned with my community,

so my mother and I arranged

for a group of
healthcare workers from Kainai

to visit the Downtown East Side.

We visited numerous services

offered
by the Portland Hotel Society,

such as Insite,
the world's first

governmentally sanctioned
supervised injection site.

What the basis, I think,
of harm reduction is

is essentially by no means
is it celebrating addiction,

but what it does

is it celebrates
the lives of people

without judgment.

Clients at the Crosstown Clinic

shared
their life-changing experiences

through the prescription
heroin program.

I'm not looking
over my shoulder.

I don't have to be out there
being cold or whatever.

I can just concentrate
on me getting better.

The Brewer's Co-op

with the PHS
Managed Alcohol Program

shared some of their stories.

I started from nothing.

Now I've got a one-bedroom
on the tenth floor

in the Portland.

I'm pretty stoked about it.

You pour it in,

then we add it...
Top it up to 23 litres,

and then we'll put in our yeast
on top of that.

Redwood ale.

Mm.

- Just smell.
- I know.

And then
the other way to get alcohol

is to do the illicit exchange,

so if you have a bottle
of rubbing alcohol or Listerine,

um, instead of consuming it,

if you bring it in,
then we will trade it for you.

Those are the things
that cause the GI bleeds.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

That's what causes
people's guts to start bleeding.

So you guys are saving
a lot of people a lot of pain.

Yeah, it's great to see
how well it really works.

When it comes to treatment

for substance-use disorders,

there are two
main schools of thought

in the addictions field,

abstinence or harm reduction.

Abstinence is defined

as the complete cessation
of drug or alcohol use,

meaning abstaining from using

or engaging in any addictive
substances or behaviours.

Alcoholics Anonymous,
founded in 1935,

developed a 12-step program.

12-step programs

such as AA, NA,
and the Red Road to Wellbriety

require abstinence,

and have become
the most widely accepted model

for treating addiction.

Many detoxes and residential
treatment centres

are also abstinence-based.

Harm reduction recognizes

that abstinence
does not work for everyone,

or that abstinence
is not a realistic expectation

for many drug and alcohol users.

"Harm reduction" is
a widely used umbrella term

that includes policies,
strategies, and procedures

that aim to reduce

the harmful effects
of substance use.

These strategies can include
distributing clean needles

to prevent
the spread of disease,

providing naloxone or Narcan
to reverse an overdose,

providing a medically regulated
supply of drugs or alcohol,

supervised consumption services,

and medically assisted
detox or recovery,

including
opioid agonist therapy,

such as Suboxone or methadone.

Our community
has had to be forced into,

you know, action
and learning along the way,

so it's trial by error,

so we've done the Narcan,
we've gone into the Suboxone,

and our group here
is looking at expanding

what we have to do
to help our community heal.

Yeah.

I'm so lucky
here at the Portland,

because all of my programming
is embedded

inside harm reduction
or housing,

so this is one of
our housing facilities.

We house 80 people here

who have come from
street homelessness, usually,

most of whom have severe
mental illness and addiction,

and then inside this building,

there's a doctor and a nurse

assigned to take care
of those people.

Our community
has really been struggling

with this whole...
This whole, um, word "enabling."

-Mm-hmm.

But we have a Blackfoot word

that's called
"Kímmapiiyipitssini,"

which means giving kindness
to each other...

-Aw.

And, um, I have so many
mothers and grandmothers

and, um, and relatives of users

that come, and they're like,
"What do we do?"

you know, "Like,
we've tried tough love,"

and a lot of times,
they feel really bad

because they're using
that Kímmapiiyipitssini,

or that motherliness

where you just can't
let your child go,

and you just can't
cut those ties

and let them fall,

and so our community
struggles with that,

but we... now
I just got this epiphany

that we don't
struggle with it anymore.

We embrace it and say,
"This is...

this is our harm reduction,
kímmapiiyipitssini."

Finally,
we met with Spikes on Bikes,

a mobile peer-led
overdose-response initiative.

So we have four components.

One is we pick up
used and dirty rigs,

and sometimes the wrappers,

and the used cookers,

and the little water containers,

things like that.

This kit
is the overdose naloxone kit,

and we work off of a phone
that we carry with us,

and we hand out these cards,
and the phone number's on it.

Yeah? Yeah, okay.

-All right.
You guys have to go.

All right.

I got it.

Got it. There we go.

There. Take a deep breath.

You need more breaths
like that, okay, buddy?

Stay there.

You had a big overdose.
We're here to help you.

- And you're okay?
- Yeah, I'm okay.

It's just like,
my heart's pounding, like...

- Yeah.
- You know?

It's...

To us, we're not...
It's not normal yet to us,

but that's what I'm scared of,

when we go back home,

that's going to be our normal.

That's what really scared us.

Well, we certainly
have a new normal,

but we also can be really
looking at prevention,

but also, you know, sharing...

sharing this work with everybody

so that we can make,
you know, make it better.

Baby's just staring.

I think it was May,

May I got the two older ones,
Trisha and Giselle,

Trisha's in school right now,

and I got the baby in June,

so, yeah, like,
next month will be a year

since I've had
all three of them.

Um...

their dad is my brother.

Uh, my sister-in-law
got really sick.

Um, she passed away in January.

You know, with me being clean
for a couple months already,

and, you know, having
all this space in my house,

I decided to take them
because...

well, because they had
nowhere to go,

and I had a lot of room,

and, you know,
I just felt so empty,

and it felt so much better

once they came
and stayed with us.

So, yeah, we slowly started
getting furniture,

but that TV,

when, um, when I
first got off taking drugs,

um, some family members,
you know,

would come and check up on me
and try and keep me busy,

you know, just 'cause I was
really feeling down and stuff

'cause I felt so guilty

because of what I put

my daughter
and my nephew through.

So they'd come
because I would, you know,

tell them how
"I feel so depressed,

I feel so bad, I...

it just kind of makes me
want to start using again."

I don't know
why I was thinking that.

So they would come
and check up on me,

and one of them actually
brought me to bingo,

those community bingos...

and I got lucky,
and I won that TV.

I tell her
that I'm scared to lose her,

and that she was only, like,

she was the only one
that's there for me.

Well, yeah, practically
she is, and...

and ever since she got off,
it's like our...

our relationship
just connected again,

and we just started
talking more,

and, like, we're happy...
Happy again.

-Broken.

And I want to get out of here.

Yeah. I don't like it down here.

- Get out of where?
- Standoff.

How come?

I don't know. It's just...

it's... I don't know.

I just don't like it

because there's
all those drugs around here,

and I've been wanting
to go to Chinook High School,

that new high school
in Lethbridge on the west side.

Yeah.

I guess that's a good school.

I want to go there,
since last year, yeah.

I already called in to see
if I can get into the school,

but they said all the grade 11s
are taken up,

so I already
lost my chance to...

so I'm going to keep trying.

The next step
was opiate-replacement therapy,

and we faced a lot of opposition

because a lot of people
were saying,

"Aren't you substituting
one drug for another?"

but we recognized

that we really had to
help people get off of fentanyl,

which is unmeasured doses
and basically Russian roulette.

People knew that they could die,

but they still used it.

With opiate-replacement therapy,

and initially, Suboxone,

we started patients on that,

and started to see
some remarkable recovery.

Hello.

So one and a half...

There you go, hon.

Okay, I'll get you to sign in.

Great. Thank you.

With Suboxone, they don't
receive the same euphoria.

They're able to function.

They're able to be out
in the workplace

on a... on a daily basis.

So that's how it works.

It just, it replaces the...

the opiates
that they've been taking,

and they're able
to function normally

out in society. Yeah.

- See you tomorrow.
- See you tomorrow.

I hid, you know, Suboxone,
on my par...

Like, I hid it from them again,

and I had to come out
and tell them,

"Well, I've been...
I've been clean.

I'm on Suboxone.
This is what I'm...

That's why I've been going
with medical every other day.

You've been picking me up."

Because
that's what they thought,

I was using again.

They don't understand,
like, that it does help.

Like, my cousin,
she's really against it.

She's really against it.

She thinks... she thinks
it's just another drug

that you're going
to be addicted to

for the rest of your life.

-But it's helping.

But it does help.
That's the thing.

She doesn't understand
that, you know,

trying to get off
these Oxy80s by yourself,

it's... it's hard.
- Yeah.

Like, how many times
did we try on our own?

It's hard. It's... it's...
I think it's impossible.

I don't know.
I could be wrong.

Depending on
how bad you were into it.

Like, we were
really bad into it.

We couldn't get off on our own.

The difficulty was
in convincing people

that harm reduction is
the route that we have to take,

because many of our people
in the community

are abstinence-based thinkers

because of our experience
with alcoholism

and people needing
to be abstinent from alcohol.

Our people were very much
against all of that,

and it's still tough
to convince people

who think that it's easy
to quit an addiction cold turkey

when it's not.

Alcohol is not
legally available for purchase

on the reserve,

meaning some people
with an addiction to alcohol

and without the financial means
to purchase it off the reserve

resort to the illicit drinking

of hand sanitizer,
mouthwash, or hair spray.

Some people
also inhale solvent fumes.

When one has a severe
dependence on alcohol,

it can actually
be life-threatening

to completely quit drinking
without medical assistance.

Sometimes our friends
come and visit us.

Sometimes it gets cold in...

- We'll just take our blanket...
- Yeah.

Tomorrow...

Our clothes.

Hmm.

Almost finished this.

Where'd you learn to bead?

In jail.

My friends taught me.

Remember that time
you got charged for trespassing?

Yeah. I was going
to come for my interview.

I almost went to jail.

I was coming for my interview

because I was going
to begin a job here.

Then I came down.

I was looking at that guy,
so he followed me.

"Put your hands
behind your back!"

and I said, "Why?"

I said, "I just came
for my interview,"

and they said,
"No, it's trespassing."

I said, "Okay, no,"

I say, "I'm just waiting
for an interview."

Handcuffed me, brought me...

But they gave me a break.

They didn't charge me, but...

That cop, she was nice.

She didn't want to charge me.

Across the highway
from Moses Lake

is the town of Cardston.

The majority of residents
in Cardston belong to

the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints,

otherwise known
as the Mormon Church.

When polygamy was made illegal
in the United States,

Mormons fled to Canada

and settled
in Blackfoot territory.

The Mormon religion prohibits
the consumption of alcohol,

so it's not legally available
for purchase in Cardston.

And we can see them from morning

coming from the reserve sober,

and by 3:00 or 4:00 sometime,
laying down on the street

and absolutely passed out,

and in a state of health

that is very sad
for us to see as a community,

but the way it affects us

is that to be able to get
those types of substance,

you need some sort of revenue.

The problem is when you have
people who need to raise funds,

the panhandling
becomes a true issue

for people who try to be
on Main Street

shopping in the shops,

because those panhandlers
are becoming aggressive.

In other words,
they are really in your space,

and they don't take "no"
for an answer.

It is a very complex problem

that stems from, possibly,

the sequels
of residential schools,

intergenerational disconnect,

lack of proper parenting,
lack of proper education,

lack of job training,

lack of hope,

and honestly,
lack of basic training

with things as simple
as banking,

learning to deal
with your finances,

and your personal hygiene.

When I woke up last night,
it was raining.

I know where I was going to go.

I was going to go sleep
in one of the banks downtown.

But then I found out
it was open,

so I just came here.

Uh, holy white man.

I said, "Who... who wants
to go out with me?"

and then she said, "George.

He really likes you,"

and I was like, first time,

I said, "No, I don't want to,"

and then after that, she said,

"No, because
he really likes you,"

and then I went back,

and I didn't want
to make him feel cheap,

so I just said, "Yeah."

Yeah, we started dating,

and it's been
about five years now.

In July, it will be six years.

But he's a good person to me.

He's not, like,
mean or anything.

My daughter
just turned seven yesterday,

and my son,
he's going to be 14 in July.

He's 13.

So he'll be 14 on July 25th.

Mm-hmm.

I never used to really
be like this, like, to drink,

but it's just... it's too hard,

like, I start getting lonely,
and I just want to drink,

so I start drinking,

and I just love that solvents.

That's our thing.

That's a real hard addiction.

I was the same age

as Leah's younger brother,
Cameron.

I knew him as a gifted
long-distance runner.

Despite numerous barriers,

he was always
at the front of the pack.

Cameron was killed
by a drunk driver

in his last year of high school.

Ever since, like, that time,
I just...

I don't know, I just...

Like, I still feel, like,
lonely for my brother.

Like, all the people left me.

Mostly, I was in jail
all my life.

35 years in and out.

I just got used to it.

How come you kept going to jail?

To support my addiction problem.

I had robbery charges.

That's why
sometimes I can't work.

No one will hire me because of
those robbery charges.

There's a big...
There's a big difference

between people's lives
in Cardston,

like, the white people's
lives there,

and what's here in Moses Lake
and on the reserve.

How do you guys feel about that,

because you're in Cardston
almost every day, hey?

I don't like
going to stores anymore

because sometimes
when I go to stores...

they block me
and they start searching...

Searching my bags,

so I get pissed off
and embarrassed.

Last time, I went to
this one store down here.

I paid for everything.

I was just about at the door,

and they stopped us
and they searched,

and everybody was looking at me,

so I don't go into it.

How many times
have you been to treatment?

Uh, let me see.

Twice in the '70s.

2013, I went in March, one...

Since 2000...

1977, that's when I started
taking AA program.

I want to go to treatment.

Like, we've both
got to do something,

like, clean up our act
and everything.

What happened
after you went last time?

Well, we came back home...

came back home.

We didn't... I don't know.

There was, like, somebody
passed away that time,

and that's the thing, um,

so then we just end up
start drinking and using again,

and, yeah, that's about it.

When you go
to treatment this time,

and you get out,
what's going to happen?

I don't know.

We'll probably just
come back onto the streets.

This program is called

the Managed Alcohol Program.

It's safe,
regulated wine and beer,

and they drink it
within a safe space,

and it's run
in the Downtown East Side

in Vancouver, like,
close to Hastings and Main,

so, yeah, I was just curious

to see what you guys would think
of having a program like this

here in Moses Lake,
get your feedback on it.

Our community,
prior to our fentanyl crisis,

- was alcohol...
- Yeah.

Like, alcohol
and prescription drugs,

and our whole community
is affected by alcoholism.

Every one of us

has a family member
who's an alcoholic.

It's a way for people to invest

in, um,
being part of a community

and having
a safe stock of alcohol.

Then we'll put in
our yeast on top of that.

We'll leave that for a week,
a week and a half,

and then we'll clarify it,

which is why we're doing this.

- Just smell.
- I know.

I don't know.

What do you guys think
of that program

and the idea of bringing
something like that here?

I encourage it.

I'd rather see them
drinking beer

instead of drinking that stuff
that's bleeding their stomach.

We definitely need that here.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

And I think that we could
really utilize it.

-Yeah.

It will work,
and we won't hurt ourselves.

'Cause with my friends all night
drinking that bad stuff,

this morning, my cousin
was throwing up blood

because he was drinking
bad stuff.

And, you know, with
the solvent abuse, you know,

it's only, like,
$3 to get something.

You know, it's more cheaper
than the alcohol, you know.

It's, like, 15 bucks
to get an antiseptic.

It's only, like,
$3 to get some...

Some of that solvent thinner.

That would be good, though,

if we could just
get a program, though.

-Yeah.

I wouldn't mind a program,
like, something like that

to be around here.

It would be nice.

The Kainai Healing Lodge

is one of over 50

NNADAP residential treatment
centres in Canada.

Residential treatment centres
are also commonly known

as drug and alcohol
rehabilitation centres.

NNADAP, or the National Native
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program,

is funded by Health Canada.

NNADAP Treatment Centres

receive
significantly less funding

than other publicly funded
residential treatment centres.

Part of the program
that they take part in

has the cultural pieces

where we incorporate smudging
every morning and every night.

Additionally, what they'll do
in here each morning

is do a reading
from the AA Big Book,

and also a reading
from the Wellbriety book.

And this one is going to be
the Daily Reflections.

Um, this is going to be the AA,

um, and it's really
the same format.

"In sobriety, my life
gets better each day.

I must always remember
not to drink, to trust God,

and to stay active in AA."

When was that, um, written?

Um, these have been around
for so long.

Like I said, AA is quite
a well-established program.

The way I believe is that

we need to move away from
the old way of doing treatment.

That's gone, right?

Because today, we're going
into an era of new things

that sometimes we have
a hard time understanding.

The old way was easy.

I mean, the 12 steps is still
going to be there.

I firmly believe in those.

But... but we need to...

We need to, uh, shift from that

to a new way
of how addictions are today.

There's more addictions
out there,

like opioids, other stuff,
so we need to move from that.

When I say "old,"

meaning something
that worked back then,

it's not working today.

You know,
just take it one day at a time,

and we all have faith
in my grandfather.

Katoosi Iikaakimaat.

"Try hard."

That's what he always told us.

Everybody is different,
and, you know, Iikaakimaat.

That's all we can say.

We're going to have
a sharing circle, okay?

I know it's hard...

and I know it's tough,

but I've been telling all of you

to speak from here,
to speak from your heart.

I struggled with alcohol
since I was a teenager.

Ooh...

It's because I was brought up
in the system.

I thought no one cared
or did anything for me,

or no one was there.

I ain't going to get
into a lot of detail,

because there's so many things
that I could tell,

you know, traumatic things,

and sad things,
and things like that, but...

I heard the stories
of my mother,

and residential school,

and the molesting
she had to go through,

the beatings, and...

-Growing up,
I had a lot of trauma.

My parents battled with alcohol.

I was always handed off
to, uh, family members...

and my grandmother raised me.

I'm real glad she raised me
the way she did.

My parents tried their best
to raise me,

but I guess it didn't work out.

-I grew up with addiction
my whole life,

ever since I was a kid.

I was raised by my grandparents,

so thinking that was okay,

to be in that kind of world
with alcohol.

You know, it was acceptable.

I was sexually abused.

So right from then,
I've had issues, right?

We all have issues.

God...

grant me the serenity

to accept the things
I cannot change,

the courage to change
the things I can,

and the wisdom
to know the difference.

Hai.

Have a good day, everyone.

When I think about

how dramatically and how rapidly
things changed for our people,

it takes my breath away.

My great-great-grandparents
were born at a time

when the first
Prime Minister of Canada,

John A. Macdonald,

weaponized hunger

as a means to violently dominate
thousands of Indigenous people

across this country.

His motivation
was our land and resources.

After Canada sanctioned
the slaughter of the buffalo

to near extinction,

our people witnessed
a total collapse

of our way of life,

followed by unprecedented
starvation and death.

Our leaders were misled
into believing that treaties

represented
a peaceful resolution

to the state's
brutal warfare tactics.

Throughout the treaty
negotiation process,

the power imbalance
was unquestionable.

The state held the upper hand,

and at no time did our leaders
agree to surrender our land.

The year after
Treaty 7 was ratified,

some of our people were forced
to eat grass to survive.

Some of our people then died

from consuming tainted flour
and rotten meat

included in our rations.

A few years later,
the Canadian Pacific Railway

began its westward expansion
through our territory,

uniting Canada's east and west.

Our wild prairie grasslands
were then rapidly transformed

into farm and ranch land
by settlers.

The state continued
to enact violent policies

designed to subjugate us
as a people.

The Pass System

prohibited our people
from leaving the reserve

without a pass
from an Indian agent.

The Indian Act controlled
every aspect of our lives

and prohibited us

from practicing
our culture and spirituality,

opening a bank account,
hiring a lawyer, voting,

and mandated that our children
attend residential schools.

This all happened
in less than 20 years,

and that was really
just the start.

I've been wanting to do this

since I was, like, five...

and now that I'm doing this,

and to be honest, to me,
it feels like a dream.

It feels like I can...

I feel like
just walking up to somebody

and telling them to pinch me.
See if I'm...

see if I'll wake up.

That's how... that's how glad

and how much pride I have

that I actually made it
to where I wanted to go.

I'm proud.

I'm proud of being from Kainai.

I'm proud to be a Blood Indian.

How we would do it, like, in,

like, say, like, we're
at a ceremony or something,

I'd say my Indian name,

so I would say,

"Oki Nitaaniko Iikainakoiyoh

nita'aapapaiiyii
astsistoomiiksii."

That's how you'd say it.

Did you see that?

In case you missed it,

let's go back
and have a closer look.

Where Apple Three once was
is now a black, empty space.

If you're watching...

What movie
are you guys watching?

We're watching Bigfoot.

-Oh.

The one we were watching
last week.

-I still haven't
finished it yet.

I started watching it
on my computer.

I was having nightmares
from it, eh?

Because I left it up...

I left it on up there
while I was sleeping.

I grew up on the Blood Tribe.

Alcohol has always
been a problem here.

It's always... you always
get calls for alcoholism,

but, uh... but it wasn't till...

When do you think it was
when the fentanyl started?

I think it got, like, really bad

two and a half years ago
or something.

You get people dropped off
at the front of the firehall,

and there are, like,
three people at a time,

and we're all trying...

There's only four of us here
at a time, right?

So every one of us
is on a different patient,

trying to bag the patient,
trying to get 'em back.

It was kind of hectic
at that time,

but now it's...

Now it's settled down
way a lot more

than what it used to be.

Friends have gone into that,
and it's just...

I don't know.

It's just a bad place
for them right now,

but I just wish it was gone.

I wish, like, my friends

wouldn't be doing
that kind of stuff, you know?

Blood Tribe Fire Department.

All right.
Have a good day.

-Pizza 73.

We get a lot of that.

We get a lot of pizza calls.

We literally do.

And they're like,
"Is this Pizza 73?"

"No, this is..."

- Like, 2:00 in the morning.
- "...Blood Tribe Firehall."

It's very important

that our non-First Nations
employees

understand what has happened
to our people,

and yeah, a lot of them drink.

A lot of them are addicted.

There's a lot of uneducated
people out here,

but there's reasons for that.

We didn't just one day decide
to be what we've become.

You know, and we were strong,
like, you know...

like, history marks,
like, the Bloods

as some of the fiercest,
strongest people

there ever was, right?

We... we held our women
on a pedestal,

we respected everybody,
we helped each other out,

and I want us to get
to that point again.

It truly breaks my heart,

because a lot of the people
I see, you know,

in Moses Lake walking around,

you know, here in Standoff,

they were some of
my closest friends

in elementary school. Right?

They came
to my birthday parties.

You know, I know
I'm not going to heal them,

and I'm not going to, you know,
make them better,

because they're suffering
in their own way.

Like, that's why
they've become addicted,

because they've experienced
that intergenerational trauma

every day of their lives,

and I'm not going to heal them,

but if I can at least give them

a little bit of empathy and...
And care when I'm with them,

I think that's
kind of my way of...

of, I don't know, like,

just doing the best I can,
I guess.

It's hard.

Like, it's not easy.

It's well known

that many of our people
will not go to certain hospitals

because of the treatment
that they get,

and myself,
it's been really difficult.

It's something
that is called moral injury,

when you work with others,

or you are in a situation

where you see
your people being hurt,

but you have to work

and continue
to maintain where you're at,

and not make a fuss every day,

so it's really difficult
to see this on a daily basis

and to continue working

when you know
your people are hurt,

when you know
they're complaining,

and when there's only you
to deal with your patients,

your patient situation,

and to have to educate
your colleagues and co-workers

on how they are
treating our people,

and for me,
it's been really difficult,

and I think a lot of Indigenous
physicians and nurses

face the same thing,

and I know a lot of our people
refuse to go for care

because of the way
that they're treated

within the health-care system.

Now, I want to qualify that
with saying that there's

a lot of good non-Indigenous
physicians and nurses

that are very compassionate,

but it often takes
one or two experiences

by a racist
or biased health professional

to hurt a person
and to gain their non-trust.

- Morning.
- Morning.

- How are you?
- I'm okay.

How was your weekend?

It was all right.

I enjoyed the weather.

Yeah, till last night, eh?

-Yeah.

Okay.

So you're doing
pretty good, hey?

Yeah.

I was thinking, I've been on...
I think, is it 14?

- 14, yeah.
- For a while now.

-Okay.

-Try to think
of going down a bit?

-How do you feel?

Do you feel
pretty stable on the 14?

- Yeah, I do.
- Okay.

Mel had some concerns
thinking that...

Did she drop down?
Did we drop her down?

Yeah. She's down to four.

- How is she doing?
- She's doing really good.

-Good. Okay, good.

So... She handles it better
than me, going down.

You know, everybody's different.

Don't judge yourself
on anybody else, eh?

The bottom line is we don't
want you to relapse.

- No.
- Okay?

So that's our biggest goal
is we don't want you to relapse.

The side goal
is we want to get you down,

so I'm not going to force you
or push you to come down,

so we want to make sure
that you're stable,

and that we don't destabilize
your life, hey?

Because in no time,
if you relapse,

things could just
really fall apart,

so the main thing
that we have to think about

is how you feel emotionally,

and we need to know that
you're strong enough,

you're feeling strong enough.

We have to keep you
really, um, healthy, hey,

because those kids need you.

-Yeah.

Um, so we have to keep you
in good shape.

If you burn yourself out...
- Mm-hmm.

Then the kids
won't have anybody, hey?

Right now,
you're helping yourself.

You're helping Mel.

You're helping
your sister's children,

your own children,

and then you have Mel's child
to think about too sometimes,

and, you know, that's
way too much stress for you.

-Mm-hmm.

You're doing really good.

-Yes.

Yeah, so...

Okay. Thank you so much.

All right. Well, keep it up,

and, yeah, you're doing
a really good job.

They're going to be giving our...

Our opening prayer and song
this morning,

so if you could come down
and take your seats,

we are ready to begin.

Friends, relatives,

those of you
who have come to visit,

I welcome you all.

I really want
to thank all of you

who have been involved

in trying to eradicate
this new drug

that has been causing us
problems for the last few years.

And we're finding that

with drugs
as strong as fentanyl,

that it's really difficult

for addicts
to have complete abstinence.

For some,
they feel it's impossible.

So the older population
is saying,

"Well, why don't you guys
just quit?"

you know, "Why don't you just,
you know,

go cold turkey and quit?"

but a lot of people
have tried that,

but they have not
been successful,

and in the meantime,
we've lost a lot of lives.

The next thing we want to do

is we want to address
a detox facility on reserve,

'cause we're finding
that the relapse rates

from people going into detox
and waiting for treatment

allows them
to relapse and relapse,

and they feel like
they're failures,

so if we can get them directly
from detox into treatment,

then we might have more success,

and we might be able
to help them a little more.

- Mom!
- Huh?

How much do I give baby again?

Don't give baby too much.

You know he'll just
throw it on the ground.

-Okay.

I'm going to get my medicine.

What's that?

Yeah, of course
I can handle them.

You on lunch or something, Shae?

- Huh?
- How long are you here?

An hour.

Okay, so you can
help Mariah, okay?

-Yeah.

Okay, well, let me
do this while he's here,

so it won't be that long.

Yeah, I'll phone that school
and I'll talk to that Margie

and I'll find out
what's going to happen.

-Okay.

They should have
phoned back already.

I know.

Be good.
Listen to your sister, okay?

Okay, I'll see you
in a bit, my girl.

Yeah.
Shae, there's juice.

- Is there?
- Yeah.

Okay.

-He's getting tired of us.

I'm just going to
life management right now.

I need to get my English.

Lethbridge, they told me
if I can average at least an 80,

and then they'll take me in

to get
my wind turbine certificate,

and that's something.

Because that's, like,
my biggest goal

is to get into
wind turbine technician, eh?

And yeah, that's pretty good.

I've been addicted to fentanyl
for two years now.

I'm not living my life anymore.

I'm living the life, like,

of a drug addict,
like, the beans.

I'm living life
just to do a bean,

and it's sad...

and my grandma
just cries all the time.

She's... I hate to see her
when she's crying, you know?

Because she knows
that I'm into this stuff now.

Everyone's starting to know
that I'm into this stuff now.

It's just not who I used to be.

It's... it's kind of sad.

Have you thought
about going on Suboxone?

Yeah, they said, like,

because, like,
I went up there before

and I tried to see Esther,
but they were just booked,

so I've got to go to Cardston
and see my own doctor,

which I haven't seen
in quite some months now.

- Esther is in today.
- Yeah?

She doesn't
have patients booked.

-Yeah?

If you went today, you would
get in to see her.

Really? Yeah?

I don't know.
I don't know what to believe.

It's just another addiction
for me, another burden, so...

So this is, um, Lori and Sonjae
and some others

talking about...

Just from other stories I heard
that it was another drug,

another drug to get high.

Like, this thing is, like,
the Suboxone has really helped

with the cravings,
the withdrawals,

mostly with the craving.

If I didn't have them,
it was... it was rough.

It was sick.

Well, they're right
about everything they said.

They are right
about everything they said.

You know, I've got
a lot to live for.

You know, I've got
a lot of people

that I don't want to hurt.

Like, that's the last thing
I want to do is hurt someone.

Yeah. Like, I can't think right.

Yeah, but I have
a really weak stomach.

Will it be better if I just
come in and talk to you?

Yeah. Yeah, I-I'll make it.

Okay, let's do that.

-Awesome.

Okay.

So, uh, you're, uh, so you're
in today for some help?

-Yeah.

Let me just get your,
uh, your chart open here.

So is this kind of, uh,
on the spot,

you realized you wanted
to do this, hey?

-Yeah.

Okay. I'm just going to get

a little bit
of history from you,

if you don't mind.

So can you tell me how long
you've been using?

Two years. Two years now.

And it's just gotten daily now.

It's just getting daily.

-So you wait till your, um,

till your withdrawal's
really bad, eh?

Yeah, which is
when I go to sleep,

and that's when it really...

That's when
it's really hard, eh?

Yeah.

What are your symptoms today?

- Right now...
- Yeah.

I'm just like... I'm just
not really functioning.

Like, I'm getting
really emotional.

-Okay.

-Not functioning right.

So you're about ready
to start crying, eh?

-Yeah.

-You got a headache?

Yeah, I get those,
like, towards nighttime,

I start getting
really rank headaches.

Okay. How about body aches?

No, not really body aches,

just my feet get restless,

and that's what
prevents me from sleeping.

Okay, so, um, and how
did you get started?

Was it a friend that told you?

Um...

practically everyone around me,
all of my friends.

-All right,
so let's get you started.

Eventually,
what we're going to do

when you're, you know,
when you're on your feet

and back in school

and your life feels like
it's pretty stable,

then we're going to start
reducing your Suboxone.

So the aim would be
that some time in the future,

you'll be off of it.
- Yeah.

Okay? I'm so glad you came in.

-Yeah.

You're going to have money
in your pocket too, now.

Yeah.

Okay, so I've got
the two medications here.

That's just for nausea,
and this is the Suboxone.

It goes under your tongue,
and it melts pretty fast.

-Yeah.

And the reason
why it goes under your tongue

is because the blood
behind your tongue

almost goes
straight to your brain.

And that's the fastest way
to feel better, hey?

Initially, the pharmacist
will watch you

until it is
completely dissolved,

but we're going to watch you,
and then I'll talk to you

and ask you
how you're feeling, okay?

- Yeah.
- Okay, here we go.

Tongue back.

All right.

All right, so usually,
it takes about maybe five...

Up to five minutes to dissolve.

Do you have kids?

-No.

Do you want
to take another drink?

Yeah.

I would have had a kid.

Well, maybe right now it's
a good thing you don't, hey?

Because you've got you
to take care of, hey?

- Mm-hmm.
- Okay, so is it almost gone?

Let's see.
Yeah, it's almost gone.

And is it starting to feel
like you had a line?

Uh, yeah.

Like, it's like my brain is
kind of, like, breathing now.

It's like... Yeah.

-Yeah. Feeling
a little bit better?

- It's like...
- What about your legs?

Are you feeling less restless?

Mm... yeah.

It kind of feels, like,
okay, comfortable now.

So the long-term goals are,

like, you said you want to
get back into school, hey?

I want you to continue

the life management work
that you're doing, um,

and then have a goal in mind.

Like, maybe by January,

you might want to start
going back to Red Crow

for picking up your high school.

From now until you
come see me again,

I want you to avoid fighting.
- Mm-hmm.

If somebody tries to pick
a fight with you, walk away.

Okay? Because fights usually
are what trigger relapses.

- Really?
- Okay? Yeah.

Um, and if somebody
is judging you

or making you feel bad,

walk away from them.

Don't even talk to them, okay?

Because it's your life.
It's not theirs, okay?

And one of the things

is that you need
to appreciate your partner

and the people
that are supporting you.

Say "thank you" to them,

because they're the ones

that are going to help you
get through this too.

- Yeah.
- Okay?

And I want to see you next week,

and we'll, um, we'll, um,
start increasing if we need to,

or we'll keep it where it's at.

You can go every morning now.

Your prescription's over there.

You can go every morning now
to get your Suboxone.

I'm happy for you.

Yay!

I've got to go back down there,

because Birdie's expecting me.

I'm happy for him.

That he's on that...

so I don't have to worry
about me losing him.

I don't like
walking around Standoff,

especially with all this
drug-dealing thing.

I don't like it.

I don't even like coming
outside, to be honest,

so I just tell my mom
I can watch the kids,

and she says,
"Yeah. Are you sure?"

I'm like, "Well, yeah.

Didn't I tell you?"

She's like, "Yeah."

So, yeah.

That's what
I usually do every day.

I don't mind, eh?

It's keeping me out of trouble,

and that's what I like,

and plus I want
to go back to school.

Hopefully my mom can watch them.

Shae's on Suboxone now.

- Is he?
- Yeah.

That's awesome.

Really good. I'm happy.

I know, that's what
I'm saying too.

It's good, eh, baby?

When did he get up?

-Oh, he's been up for a while.

Tsaa kiistaakii naa...

Paahksikaakiit.

Ah'aiyaah.

Hey, Marlo.

How you doing?

-Thank you.

So I just turned 22 in November,

November 6th.

I was raised here in Moses Lake,

uh, from a foster home.

It was pretty cool
you guys came.

-How come?

Um, it's my first time actually
on camera, you know...

besides... besides jail.

- Jail?
- Yeah, besides going to jail.

Mm.

You know,
I never thought of that.

Um...

I never thought of that.

Going out for a cigarette.

So when we talked,
last time in the summer,

you were trying
to get into treatment?

Yeah. We're still waiting.

That's the only way
we can get a place.

We've got a counsellor
in Standoff, AA counsellor.

He helps out everybody.

That's who we go see
once in a while.

When it gets warm,
we hike out and go see him.

He sign papers,
how many visits we had,

gives us our medical report.

This time, they're saying
this one's our next one.

The path to getting
into a treatment centre

is complicated.

Before going to treatment,

George and Leah need to visit

their addictions counsellor
in Standoff four times.

They generally have
to hitchhike the 30 kilometres

to get there.

They then need
to get medical forms

from their family doctor,

and then they need to go
to a detox.

Most detoxes in Alberta
have a waitlist.

After completing these steps,

they can finally apply for a bed
in a NNADAP treatment centre.

However, most treatment centres
in Alberta have a waitlist.

Many people from Kainai

live in the nearby city
of Lethbridge.

Those who live with addictions

have access to different
services in the city

than those who live on reserve.

Arches is a non-profit
organization in Lethbridge

that offers over 20
wraparound services

rooted
in harm-reduction practices.

The Indigenous
Recovery Coach Program

supports Indigenous people
who are in recovery

and specifically
on opioid agonist therapy,

such as Suboxone or methadone.

The program recognizes

that participants
face numerous barriers

in their daily lives,

so coaches
offer one-on-one support

for everything
from getting to appointments,

to finding housing,
to getting into treatment.

The program
also offers cultural support,

guidance from elders,

and access to ceremony.

I'm leaving tomorrow.

I'm going to treatment up north.

I'll be gone for 56 days, so...

I'm a little scared, but...

it's something I have to do.

When you're on drugs,
it's a routine.

You get up, you start looking,
right, for your drug of choice,

and... and then it's just,
like, all day,

it seems like
you're on that drug, right?

Whereas methadone,
I take it once a day,

and I'm fine. I can function.

And I tried Suboxone,

but I had a really bad
allergic reaction to it, eh?

I kept getting sick, and, um...

uh, it just
wasn't working for me.

How did your life change
after you...

- With methadone?
- -started methadone treatment?

I started living normal, right?

Like, living
that normal life again,

whereas before,

well, it wasn't a normal,
healthy life, right?

I'm living healthy.

Um, I just function
throughout the whole day,

normally, like
a normal person, right?

She deserves the credit.

She did everything.

She's just
a very, very resourceful lady,

and very, um, smart,

and for the most part,

she's done all of this planning
just on her own,

and it's just
that we're there to help her

with the recovery,

and just any kind of, like,
long-term or short-term goals.

All right. See you guys.

- Okay. We'll see you.
- All right. Yeah.

Have a safe, good journey.

-Yes, I will.

I always dreamed of having
this kind of life.

After I had my daughter,

I relapsed
for a couple of months,

and just one morning,

I woke up
and I couldn't do it anymore.

I was struggling.

I had nothing,
like, literally nothing.

And my brother told me,

"You should
write down your goals,

and then, you know,
just write them down,

and then maybe in the future,
it will happen,

but it won't happen right away,"

but just to keep that paper,

and then I did do it,

but I don't have
that paper anymore,

and then my goals
kind of came true

because now I got my own place,
my daughter.

I'm going to school.

Ken is working.

I feel a lot better.

Confident.

This is for the people out there

that I want to say to them.

I just...

"Oki. My name's Rady Goodrider.

I'm from
the Blood Tribe Reserve.

Today marks 11 months...

and it hasn't been all good,

but I handled life without it.

I know I'm better off.

I just had enough

looking over my shoulder
waiting for the next fix.

16 years old when I start using,

and now I'm 20 years old
and finally sober.

As long as I can
keep myself healthy,

I can still accomplish

all the things
I dreamed of doing.

Never think less of yourself,
because you're somebody.

My personal story."

This is her.

She's in daycare.

Aw. She's one year old now?

- Mm-hmm.
- Wow.

-She's really cute.

I love being a mom.

I love
taking care of my daughter.

She means everything to me.

I'm so glad I got her.

In response
to the opioid crisis,

Arches opened
a supervised consumption site,

which became
one of the busiest in Canada.

The majority of the clients
who use the site are Indigenous,

and many are from Kainai.

So inside this facility,

we have about eight different
programs that operate.

Our largest program is
Supervised Consumption Services,

so that's where you're standing
right now.

Can you buzz me in?

Yeah.

Thank you.

And this is
the consumption room.

So nursing stations,

there are two
because the room's so large,

so in this room,
there are 13 booths.

In the second room,

there are four more booths
for when we get busy.

So we have four modes
of consumption here,

so people can inject,

they can inhale, they can snort,

or they can ingest orally.

So when they come in,
they generally wash their hands,

and then they would let us know
what supplies they want.

Sterile water so that they're
using a good water source.

Ties, no different

than when you go
to get your blood taken,

so that they can tie off,

and then cookers and filters,

and for those
that are smoking fentanyl

or other fentanyl analogues
or heroin,

we provide foil for them.

So they get monitored
while they're in here

and they're using.

If there's any issues
or medical emergencies,

then we have staff on hand
to respond,

and we have
all the medical equipment

that would be required

to be able to revive somebody
from an overdose.

So all of the booths
are the same size,

except for one
that's a little bit bigger,

to support either
people in wheelchairs

or people who are participating

in our peer-assisted
injection pilot project.

Do you feel...

Do you feel safe
using the smoke room here?

-Yeah...

just in case
something does go wrong.

The staff's here to help.

I've seen them firsthand
help other people.

It's good.

Because I think all it takes
is one person to care,

because everyone out here
is a person.

We're all people.

We breathe the same air.

We bleed the same blood.

-Do you find value in the
services that Arches offers?

Yes, I do because...

there's a lot of people
that I see here

that OD a lot,
and they OD a lot in here,

and if they go out there
and do the same thing,

they OD out there, you know,
they won't have anything,

or they don't
take anything with them,

they could, you know...

They won't
come out of their situation.

If it happens out there
in an alley or somewhere else,

without their OD kits...

So there's talks

about cutting
budgets for places like Arches.

If you didn't have Arches,
where would you be?

There'd probably be a lot more
deaths and ODs, you know.

That's all
that's going to happen.

The Supervised Consumption Site

and other
harm-reduction services

offered through Arches

received pushback from
some residents of Lethbridge.

Vocal opponents to the SCS
organized numerous protests,

petitions,
and community gatherings.

Various Facebook groups
opposed to the SCS

were created in an effort
to shame drug users.

Photos and footage
of clients of the SCS

were frequently posted
in these social media forums

without their consent,

along with racist
and derogatory comments.

A nearby business
had a 24-hour YouTube stream

directed at the SCS entrance.

Violence toward
SCS clients and staff

was also documented.

A Lethbridge man was charged
with assault with a weapon

after firing a paintball gun
from a moving truck

at clients and staff.

Yes, actually, I was in one,

just back here
by these steps into the alley.

I was talking
to these two girls,

and, um, I didn't see it,
I didn't care,

but somebody told me,
"Look, Lloyd, you're on..."

I think she said Facebook.

Um, we went through her phone.

I was looking at it
to the picture of me.

I had my back to the camera.

It was coming from behind me,
this building back here.

I was standing there with
the two girls on each side,

it looked like
we were making a deal,

but we were just talking.

Do you... do you feel safe

here in Lethbridge?

-No.

-How come?

Like, two days ago,

some white guys
pulled a shotgun on me

when I was walking
down the street.

It was, like,
2:00 in the morning.

This truck just pulled up,
and I just heard them...

I heard them
load that shotgun, and like...

they called me
a fucking savage or whatever.

Um, I've been hearing a lot,

and I see a lot of white people
beating on the Indian,

on the street, the alleys,

or just calling them bad names
and everything.

It's kind of dangerous

for a Native to walk around
alone at night,

or even during the day
sometimes, eh?

In 2008,
two Blackfoot men were targeted

in an unprovoked assault

by Lethbridge resident
Bradley Gray.

Gray chased George Many Shots
and Percy Panther Bone

into an alley
near his northside home,

and beat George Many Shots
to death.

Percy Panther Bone was also
badly injured in the assault.

Gray was heard
saying earlier that day,

"We do nothing but fucking
put up with drunken Indians."

He also told a friend

that he was going to
"clean up the neighbourhood."

Bradley Gray was sentenced
to life in prison

under a manslaughter conviction

for the murder
of George Many Shots.

George Many Shots' death
was listed as a hate homicide,

one of only two hate homicides
in Canadian history at the time.

Aahpistto iihksitsspoiyoah'pa,
kyiaah.

Let's get going.

Aiyooh'kiinaan,
aiyooh'sinaapisspoh'pii,

Aiyooh'aahpinaohka

Aanikiaapoohtaomohpiihksipinaan

anii ikihtaantsapoohpinaan.

Aiyooh'kimmaatokinaan

naa anii
kiaa'iihtohtahksstsaaksitsiniip

inaan aanii
kiahiihkiintsipootaiyaa

aniiksii iitaisskaamannaan.

You guys want to go down?

This way.

The SAGE Clan Patrol

is a volunteer-run organization
founded by Mark Brave Rock.

Mark was inspired
by Winnipeg's Bear Clan.

The SAGE Clan patrols
the streets of Lethbridge

three times a week

and offers support
to vulnerable people.

They also safely dispose
of used needles

and other drug paraphernalia.

Napí.

Napí.

Napí, Kiyaooi.

Aw, Fred, why don't you try
and get to the shelter?

It's too cold here.

Are you sure
you're going to be okay?

Why don't I come back
and check on you, all right?

Okay?

- Sounds good. Okay.
- How long?

- How long?
- Bye.

- Right away.
- Right away?

Um, Sly, you and Adele,
do you want to wait?

- Yeah.
- For... wait for Dot.

- We'll come back through here.
- Sure.

They're going to come
and pick him up, all right?

Okay. All right.

That's exactly
what we don't like to see

is somebody hiding
in a secluded spot to sleep.

That's when they get beaten up.

They get found by...

by guys who beat them up
just for...

just to beat them up.

You know, how do you
explain it, eh,

why they would do it
to somebody?

Like I said,
Eric's pretty thorough.

Did you find anything there?

What did you find?

That would be good,
to have those rubber gloves.

Rinse off your gloves
when you get home.

-I know.

- Watch your step.
- All right.

- Watch what you're stepping in.
- Okay.

In case there's any needles
or stuff like that.

You have really thin shoes.

I lost my mom...
About two months,

it will be a year that
I lost her through addictions.

This time, I couldn't save her.

And I also
feel my mom's presence

because all the routes
that we went through,

I always found my mom.

-Yeah.

So it kind of feels
like I'm with her.

Yeah.

Oh, uh, my English name
is Sylvester James Daniels.

Well, I'm known as Sly
around here, Sly Daniels.

My Indian name is Aipiiskao.

That means "traveller"
in Blackfoot.

I left addiction
when I was in Vancouver.

I was on the streets there
for a few years,

and, uh, so I used to
shoot up a lot of dope

or stuff like that, so I know...

I know what it's like,
hands down, you know.

I think that's actually
probably one of the good things

that makes me want to do this,

because when I was
in the darkness

of doing all that dope
and stuff like that,

all that, you know,
of hurting myself,

there were people like us,

and, you know,
they'd come up to me

and always ask me if I'm okay.

You know, and just being able
to see people ask that question,

"Are you okay?" you know,
when they come up to you,

that brings...
That gives you a light, eh?

So it just, you know,
when people do that,

when they did that to me,

that makes me
want to do this too, eh?

Okay.

Well, do you want to...
Do you want to sing a song?

- Sly!
- Yes?

You want to join us?

-Hello, Christine.

-Hi, Elton.
How are you doing?

- I'm okay.
- Good. Nice to see you.

-Yeah. This is a good day.

- It's the crew.
- Cool.

-The crew.

Okay. Well, wish me luck.

Yeah. Good luck.

-That I'm going to pass
and ace my test.

Aiyooh Iihtaapaitaapiiyaoh'pa

Kitsiksimaatsimmohpinaan

Isspommokinnaan Anohk
Ksistiko Kimmokinaan

Ais'stamattsookinnaan.

So, uh, make sure that you, uh,
put your name and today's date.

Have your calculators handy,
times table sheet, use that...

and if you get stuck,
let us know.

We'll help you out.

And you have...
You've got an hour.

You've got an hour to do it,
so good luck.

I was kind of at a bad...

how do I say it, place

that I was going downhill
and all that.

I had no one
to talk to or anything,

and plus me and Shae, like,

were fighting
around the time, too,

so that just kind of...

That's where
I just kind of went...

I don't know why.

So I kind of put myself

in a bad place
right there, so...

and I regret it, though.

I really do.
I'm not even lying.

Yeah.

I just hope that I...

That I actually
accomplish my goals,

and that I do get my life
clean and healthy.

I'm really hoping
to be a nurse still.

It's what I want.

Okay, I'll check my laundry.

Yeah, it feels really good
to be working, doing something,

getting out of the house.

I started noticing
her being different,

and then, you know,
I... I confronted her.

She was scared at first,

but, you know, I just told her,

you know,
that I wasn't mad at her.

I was more, you know,
worried about her.

We had a really good long talk,

and I told her
I would help her get off.

I didn't want her to be on it.

So she cried. We cried.

We had a really, you know,
a moment,

and I just, um, told her,
you know, "I'll help you."

So I was the one
who made the appointment

for them to go get on Suboxone.

So, yeah, I'm...

So I was just...

kind of hurt, though,
to see her, you know, on it.

I never thought my daughter
would be, you know, into that.

But I guess
I'm partly to blame for it,

because she witnessed me,
you know.

I still remember
the day I brought her

and when she first
went to school, you know,

and her reaction when I...

I literally
got kicked out of there.

They wanted, you know,
to try and break that bond,

so I literally
stood outside the door,

and I hear her crying,

and I'm, like, standing outside,

and I'm, like,
bawling my eyes out.

And then there's
this teacher that walks by,

and she comes, and she's like,

"Aw, is it your daughter's...

Or your child's
first day of class?"

I was like, "Yeah."

I said, "I didn't let her
go to Head Start,

so this is my first time,
you know,

letting her go to school
and be on her own."

She said,
"Yeah, we've seen that,

but, you know,
she'll be okay."

So she literally
walked me out of the school.

I'm still working EMS casually,

but I also work now

in a part-time
permanent position

with the Mobile Medical Unit.

-Morning.

Marcia and I,
we're actually sisters,

so she got involved
in this first,

and then I of course followed,
because I'm the little sister.

Good morning.

Along with providing

primary health-care services,

the Mobile Medical Unit

dispenses
harm-reduction supplies

and delivers Suboxone
to patients

who do not have transportation
to the pharmacy every day.

Like, I was
one of those people who thought,

"Oh, you're just replacing
one addiction with the other."

It was just more of
my own personal journey

from, you know,
being one of those,

"Oh, my God, harm reduction,

that's, you know, that's not
doing anything for anybody.

What good is it?"

to kind of really understanding,
you know,

what harm reduction is,

and why it's needed
within the community.

Your last visit was good?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

You're still really involved
with your baby, hey?

Yeah. I still go over and visit.

-Yeah.

They wanted me
to go for a treatment,

then they wanted me to go
for parenting classes.

Um, then when
I have visits here,

then if those are going good,

like, everything's
going perfect,

then she'll be able
to have sleepovers.

-Oh, okay.

And then when
those sleepovers are good,

where she is happy,
like, she is...

there's nothing wrong
with her sleeping here...

-Mm-hmm.

And then they'll...
then I'll get her back.

Are you done?

- Yeah.
- Let's see.

Okay. All right.

So tomorrow, bring
your lock box out with you,

because you'll have
the weekend carries.

- Okay.
- Okay?

Okay, see you.
Have a good day.

- Yeah, you too.
- Okay.

With every wave
of the opioid crisis,

community leaders
and frontline workers at Kainai

become more adept
at responding to emergencies.

In response to yet another
spike in overdoses,

community leaders are gathering
to coordinate their efforts.

- Hello.
- How are you?

- How are you?
- Good.

I'm glad.

That-that's 13, right,
in the last...

Yeah. Since
yesterday morning, 8:00.

Yeah.

So... and that's 22 in 48 hours.

- Okay. So you'll report on this.
- Yeah.

So just
to give everything context,

I'm going to ask Jacen
to give a report,

because Jacen and his crew
have been extremely busy.

In the last 24 hours,
we've done 13 overdoses.

In the last 48 hours,
we've done 22 overdoses.

So over and above that,
we've also done

all the other calls
that are in there.

So keeping in mind
there's only three ambulances

that are on shift

at any given time
on the Blood Reserve,

we're working hard
on the detox centre.

We've got support
from Chief and Council

and from our board
to move forward with this.

Kevin's working hard

with the federal
and provincial government

trying to secure more funding,

and other than that,

we don't have a whole lot more
to report.

Thank you.
Let's move to Esther.

Could you give a little bit
of an update?

-Okay. So I stopped in
the emergency room this morning

to get an update.

They've had 20 overdoses in
since Tuesday morning,

and last night,
they had three overdoses.

They're taking up to six...

Between six to eight vials
of naloxone to revive them,

and, um, we did have
one death yesterday morning,

which is suspected overdose.

So, um,
there's a couple of things

that we're...
We're stepping up on,

and one is
we really need to step up

on the naloxone distribution
at every site.

We have a walk-in
Suboxone clinic today,

and we'll have
a walk-in Suboxone clinic

on Saturday and Sunday.

For anybody that's
going through withdrawal,

they can come directly
to the clinic

Saturday and Sunday,

and we'll assess them
for starting them on Suboxone,

and hopefully, they're not going
to seek more of this stuff

to get, you know...

Because most of the people
are dope sick,

and what they're doing

is they're just wanting
to feel better.

How are our naloxone kits?

Do we have lots?

I placed an order yesterday,

so they should be coming in,
hopefully by the end of...

-How many did you order?

About 250.

- 250?
- Yeah.

2-3-3-5, do you want Charmaine
and myself to respond?

She had a pulse
the whole time, right?

It came in as a cardiac arrest,

and when the crews got on scene,

they determined
it was another overdose,

which makes it
our seventh for the day.

Witnessing the calls,
it's very heart-wrenching

when you go on a call
and people are breathless,

they've got very weak pulses,
and you do the best you can.

We're just restocking
our naloxone

from the three overdoses
we just had.

The one gentleman in townsite

took eight mils
to bring him back

till he was breathing
on his own,

so it's definitely a carfentanil
that's back in our community.

Carfentanil
is a synthetic opioid

a hundred times more potent
than fentanyl,

and 10,000 times more potent
than morphine.

Okay, everyone,
glad you're here.

Um, I don't know
if you guys are aware,

we're having a crisis situation
with the opioids again.

We're going to just do
the naloxone training today

and show you guys what to do
if you come upon an overdose.

So the naloxone kit contains
three vials of naloxone.

In each... in each one of those
little brown bottles,

there is 1.4 milligrams,

or one milligram
of the naloxone.

There you go.

Yeah, you better learn.

Come on.

Pull it back
to where it's in the liquid,

and take it and pull back.

You see the fluid's going in?

And then you draw back a bit,

and then make sure
it goes to the 1.

That's the dose, okay?

So you're going to take your...
Your muscle...

and you go straight in, okay?

You're in.

You're going to go
straight down.

There you go.

Now you could save a life, okay?

- Thank you.
- Thanks.

When we get a...
We call it a bad batch.

When a bad batch happens,

the guys are going call to call
because there's...

Sometimes there's
multiple people in a house

that'll drop,

and then we're starting a...

I thought we were going
to run out of our Narcan.

So everybody's...

Every officer is issued
three of these Narcan.

With a bad batch,

it takes seven of these
to revive that person,

where before,
it only used to take three.

See, the box
is almost empty now.

We call them fentanyl shifts,
or fentanyl patrol, it's called.

They'll start their shift,
they'll grab a bunch of Narcan,

and they'll just drive around,

and then they'll
listen to the radio,

and then whenever they hear
an overdose come in,

they'll go to that call,

and that's all they do.

So then that will free up
the existing officers

that are working
that regular night shift

to actually attend what they're
supposed to be attending.

What had happened is that person
showed up at house 205,

wanted water, turned blue,

and then just dropped
into an overdose,

and, um, EMS got there first,
revived her,

and then she took off on foot,

avoiding us,

and we haven't found her since,

so that's what the officers
are tied up doing right now,

checking different
family member houses

all over the reserve

and trying to figure out...

As long as we know
that she's alive and breathing,

then we'll lay off,

but until then, we'll have
to keep looking for her.

There's an abandoned vehicle
over by '09.

I don't know.

I'd like to be a time traveller

and travel back
to pre-colonization

to see how things
were dealt with back then.

That would be
really interesting.

Because obviously,

I think it started
right from colonization.

But that's just
my opinion, though.

In response
to the increase in overdoses,

the Kainai Healing Lodge

has transitioned
into a temporary detox

over the holiday season.

Okay, yeah,
so I'm really glad you're here,

and you've, um... let's see.

Seven days, or five days?

- Seven days.
- Seven days.

Tell me how you feel physically.

I'm starting to feel
a little better now,

since when I came.

-Mm-hmm.

But I'm still kind of...

- A little shaky?
- Yeah.

Any headache?

- No.
- No headache.

No cold sweats?

Yes...

- A little bit?
- Yeah.

Okay, well, we'll still have
to deal with that.

What about your emotional part?

How do you feel?

-Uh...

I still feel kind of...

- Sad?
- Yeah.

Yeah. That's a hard one, eh?

Have you been able
to get through

some of the stuff that's
happened at residential school?

Uh...

that's why I drink.

-Yeah?

Lots of stuff
that happened there.

But do you know, George,
I know it's hard.

- Yeah.
- I know it's hard,

but I don't want
to open that up right now,

but I know that that's probably

one of the hardest parts
in your life,

and if we can start working
with it in treatment...

like, I know
it hurts you every day,

but I don't want
to open it up right now.

You need to be in a safe place

where we can start
talking about that,

because it's one hurt
that leads to another hurt

that leads to another hurt,

and at some point,
you just have so much

that you have
to put back together, eh?

And... and none of it's
your fault.

Like many Blackfoot children,

George was close
with his grandparents.

His grandfather, Calling Last,

was one of our great
spiritual leaders

in our sacred
Sundance societies.

When George was six years old,

he was taken from his family

and placed
in residential school.

At a time when he should have
been learning

about our sacred
traditional ways

and forming his identity
as a Blackfoot person,

he was placed
in a violent institution

designed to assimilate.

As a young person,

I've lost many close relatives
to alcohol.

Um, many of my uncles
on both sides of my family

have, um, died
secondary to alcohol use.

We lost a niece a few years ago
to opioid overdose,

and we just weren't watching
or paying attention,

and didn't realize that in our...

In our family periphery,

there was somebody
who was at risk.

Yeah. He's got the gift of gab.

Look where it got me.

One time, I had to go to court.

I was standing in court,

and I was thinking,

"I'm just going to plead guilty.

I don't want to be talking."

Next thing, he came
and stood behind me

and started talking.

I got out of it.

Was it for a speeding ticket
or something?

U-turn on a street.

Oh, yeah.

- Yeah.
- Cardston, right?

My grandparents say
that their greatest achievement

is their children
and grandchildren,

and they really mean that.

None of us saw it coming
when my cousin passed away,

because we didn't know
that she was using again.

The loss of my granddaughter...

was very difficult.

Every day...

we think of my granddaughter.

I had cancer about 17 years ago,

and when I got home,

she was there,

and we'd sit up.

I couldn't sleep.

I'd sit up most of the night,

and she'd sit up with me,

and we'd tell stories.

I'd tell her stories.

Sometimes, I hope they sunk in.

She and I got very close.

She called me several times

to go and pick her up
in Calgary.

There's no reason I... I...

I didn't go.

I had no reason,
I just didn't go...

and the next thing,
we get the call.

My grandparents treasure

that last thing she mailed them.

It was a Valentine's Day card
she made with her daughter.

The envelope was filled with
silver heart-shaped confetti.

She really loved
that daughter of hers,

and she was a good mom.

After she passed,

my grandpa sealed
that heart-shaped confetti

right into the woodwork
of the dining-room counter.

I held my grandparents
when we laid her to rest.

I've never witnessed
sorrow like theirs that day,

and every day since then.

The regret and "what ifs"
and "if onlys" are always there,

but I don't want this film

to serve as a memory
of the way she passed,

because she was
so much more than that.

She was never afraid
to say "I love you,"

and she wasn't afraid
of taking chances.

She was so damn funny,

and she got away with saying
just about anything.

She had bright eyes
and a beautiful crooked smile.

I miss her laugh
and her way of teasing.

I miss telling her my secrets

and knowing
she'd keep them safe.

I miss her so much.

I wish we knew then
what we know now,

because she'd still be here
to say "I love you."

It's a long way up there.

-Yeah.

But it's really lucky
that we now have that space.

When is it going to be finished?

Um, they're looking
at the end of December,

and starting January the 10th
is our start...

is our aim for our start day.

After years of work,

a safe withdrawal site,
or detox,

is opening at Kainai.

For those who are ready
to go into recovery,

the detox will fill
a much-needed gap

in the treatment pathway.

So as you can see,
it's all under construction now.

-Yeah.

So we're going to start
with four rooms,

and, uh...

here, I'll show you
what we're doing here.

We'll try to keep them

until we've got them
stable medically,

and help them
through their withdrawals,

and then we assess
whether or not

we're going to start them
on Suboxone or methadone,

or if they're going
to look at abstinence,

so it's not actually like
a hospital or a subacute care.

It's actually like a home
that people are in,

and the paramedics
are coming in,

and we will have staff here,

but it's a different
kind of model

than what other people
have ever seen.

You know, we need to put
this one building block

into our treatment pathway,

and that was what we decided

would be most helpful
in this crisis,

is to move one more step further

than just, um,
harm reduction and saving lives,

and that's to start
getting people

into, um, stabilized care

and the actual treatment

that they need
to turn their lives around.

It's really, um, exciting

that we're moving into something

that nobody
has ever done before,

but we have to.

It's out of necessity

that we have to do
the things that need to be done,

and we can't sit back
and expect things to change

without doing the work,

and without really doing
all of the community,

um, activity that we're doing.

The Bringing
the Spirit Home detox

opened in February 2019
in Standoff.

Bringing the Spirit Home
offers support

through a harm-reduction model
with opioid agonist therapy,

as well as support

in a more conventional
abstinence-based

detox model.

Clients are invited
to stay as long as they need,

and support is offered

to those who wish to get into
a residential treatment centre.

Hi, guys. How are you?

- Good.
- Yeah.

It looks like you got
two more patients.

We did, yeah.

He came in at about 3:00, 3:30.

-Okay.

Um, he was okay,

and then he did
his shower and everything,

and he started
getting super agitated,

so he's already had
one milligram of Ativan,

just because I wanted
to slow him down a little.

All right.

Do you have, like,
the, um, progress notes?

So I'll go in
with the progress note sheet

and one of these,

and then it works out
really just...

Yeah, there we go.

- Oh, these ones.
- Yeah.

So I am in the process right now

of seeking treatment
for two of our clients.

So what is your process now?

Once I get everything
sent up to you,

how long of a wait
do I have to...

what am I looking at?

Two months for male.

Yeah, I told them everything
on our end is covered

as far as application,
medical, and funding,

and there is still a wait list.

Which is interesting because,
you know,

when we talked
to the federal government,

they said
that we wouldn't have...

With that new list,
we wouldn't have that wait time.

Okay. All right.

It's something
we'll work on next week.

-Okay.

I'll call them back on Monday.

-Okay. Thanks.

Kara Eagle Bear is
a member of the Kainai Nation,

and is one of the paramedics
working at the detox.

Her father, Warren, has been
a client there for 45 days.

He was an EMT
on the Blood Reserve

for 13 years

before developing PTSD

due to the trauma
he witnessed on the job.

Rylan was telling you
that you put on weight?

Yeah.

I put on lots of weight
since I got here.

He said when he got here,
he was 147.

Now he's 193.

It must be the food.

All the carbs.

Yeah.

It's a big stress relief on us,

knowing that you're here
and you're okay.

Now that I'm here, you know,
I don't want to leave.

You'll just move in.

I just hope
that people would understand

where all this hurt
is coming from.

I want people to know
that they're not bad people.

They're... they're really,
really kind, um...

and I don't... I just don't
want them to be judged.

There's 22, but seven
are leaving this morning.

Some have done their,
you know, 30 days here,

and some,
they're in here for seven days,

and we tried to talk them
into staying,

but they want to leave,
and we can't force them to stay.

The reason, like,
for us to be leaving,

it's not to go out and about

and start doing
this stuff we're doing.

We just want to get, like,
all our stuff ready and...

'cause we're going
to be heading to treatment,

so we can be ready
when we go to treatment.

All right.

-'Kay. See you.

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

-Yeah.

All right.

Take care, George.

You guys know where we're at
if you guys want to come back.

It's your choice.
You guys don't have to leave.

This is you guys
choosing to leave.

So best of luck and everything,

and get those assessments done,

and hopefully you guys can get
into treatment on the first.

-This release form here.

-Okay.

This is our incident report
from this afternoon,

if you'd like to just check.

My name is Leonard Chief Moon.

I'm the supervisor here

at the Bringing the Spirit Home
detox centre.

With the clients
that we have here,

when I do talk with them,

I tell them
that I'm proud of them,

because it takes a lot
of courage for them to...

come off the streets
and come here and talk to us.

We admit them,

and it takes a lot of courage

for them
to take that first step,

and they know it's hard,

especially
when they start detoxing,

and we work with them.

After a week or so, they're
a totally different person.

My mom stayed in Vegas
for about...

Until I was about
maybe about eight.

She was into heroin really bad,

and she ODed
when I was about maybe 12.

I started maybe smoking weed

when I was about,
maybe about eight or nine.

I started drinking
when I was about 10.

So from there, that's where
it kind of escalated

to when I was maybe
about 13, 14,

I started abusing heroin
and, uh, meth.

I mixed it with meth.

I mixed that bean with meth,

and I just remember,
I just... coming to.

I was in the hospital, like...

and I couldn't move my leg.

Still, right now,
I'm still trying to walk.

It was really tough
the first day I got in here.

The withdrawal was really bad,
like, really bad.

What I kept doing was
I kept praying, you know,

praying to our Creator
to help me.

I'm feeling good about myself.

I'm clean.

I'm getting healthy.

I'm starting
to gain weight again.

I lost quite a bit of weight
during my drug abuse.

This is a really good place.

It's an awesome place.

It's an amazing thing
that they've done,

and in my eyes, they're heroes,
Jacen and Leonard, you know.

I look up to them
as, you know, superheroes.

I just felt like

I was going in circles
when I was out there.

Since I came here, it...

opened up my spirit,
this detox, you know.

There's workers here.

There's Jacen, you know.

There's all these other workers
here, you know.

They're here to help us,
you know,

and they've been here
to help us.

They helped me
get back on track.

Grab my sheet.

-The whole reason you came.

All right, you guys.
You guys have a good life, hey?

-Yeah. Thank you. You too.

Hide that.

I tried to get some
of the original guys out.

Uh... probably everybody
except, of course, Sly.

Sly won't be with us tonight.

Well, Sly,
he was a really caring person.

He was a great person,

a great person who helped
any way he could.

Then the last time I saw him,
he was at my place,

and he said good night,

and that's when he
went to my bathroom and he ODed.

This is a song I...

I made when I was walking
with my friend, Sly.

He was always asking me
to sing it to him.

He was always asking,
"What's that song again?"

So I'd sing it to him
while we walked.

So I thought it was appropriate
to use it for...

To honour him,

so I named the song
after him, Sly,

because I haven't
put a name on it,

and I named it after him,
to honour him, so...

Kímmapiiyipitssini
means compassion, caring.

It means feeling for others

who do not have the same health
and happiness that you have,

and it's...
It's also basically sharing

and trying to take care
of your fellow man or woman

because in our way of believing,

if you help people out,

then you are blessed
to continue to do that,

and so our people

are supposed to give
what they have

or what they can to help others,

and that means also compassion
for those who are suffering.

- See ya.
- Yeah.

- See you, Kobe.
- Yeah.

- See you, Kelly.
- Yeah. See you.

This is my nephew there.

Okay.

He's a long-distance runner,
too.

-Really?

But they can't beat me.

Did your tent
get wet on Saturday?

Uh, no.

-So you stayed warm and dry?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Like, I do, like,
I want to go to treatment,

and George wants to go.

Because we've been at it
for a real long time,

and it seems like
every time when we...

When we try to, like, sober up,

then something
like this happens.

Leah's cousin Shawna,

who she took as a sister,
passed away suddenly last week.

-George, and sorry,
your name was?

- Leah.
- Leah? All right.

How are you feeling?

-Mm.

- Pretty good?
- Yeah.

38 now?

37.

37, okay.

What substance do you use?

Solvents and alcohol.

-Okay.

How often?

- Every day.
- Every day?

For how long
have you been using?

Mm...

let's see.

About 22 years.

-22 years.

And what makes you want to stop?

Mm...

-Anything
you're working towards?

I'm just going through
grievance now

'cause I just lost my sister.

-I'm really sorry about that.

Gary?

Okay. We'll just get you
to come back here.

-Yep.

-We'll get you in the shower

and get your laundry
started going for you.

I think what's happened
with you, George,

is that after treatment,

like you said before,
"Where do I go?"

You don't have a house to go to.

If we can... if we could have
got you into your own place,

but a place where people
don't come in

and they start
drinking with you, hey?

And that's usually what
makes you fall off the wagon

is that all your friends come,

then pretty soon,
you fall off the wagon.

So, um, we'll have...
That's what we have to work on.

I don't... I mean,

I think the counselling and that
is good for you,

but I don't think treatment's
going to do much,

make much difference
right now, hey?

I think the big thing
is getting a home.

-Yeah.

A place to live for
until we can get...

You know, work on getting you
into your own place.

- Yeah. Yeah.
- That's the big goal, eh?

I think that's
a good start. Okay.

Jeez, those knees
look really sore.

Looks like you've been
riding a horse for a while.

Yeah, that's what all
my friends are saying.

-Yeah.

We've had over 300 clients

come through the centre

since it's opened.

We've had several
go on to treatment.

Some are now
into transition housing.

As of today, we have 17.

We've got one more

that's being treated
in the hospital for pneumonia,

and we've got one more
coming back today

who delivered a baby July 9th,

and so mom and baby
are both coming back today,

so it that will get us
to 19 plus a baby.

She spent the last
three and a half months

of her pregnancy

with us in the detox centre,

so we were able
to cut her back on her Suboxone

to help with the baby's
withdrawal once baby was born.

Child Services asked

if we could bring
baby and mom back here

just to monitor

and make sure that they're
coming into a safe environment,

again to help cut back
on the Suboxone for mom,

and make sure baby
is not suffering at all,

so we agreed to it,
and we'll see where that goes.

Again, not something
we planned for

when we opened up
the safe withdrawal site,

but we're not going to turn
anybody away.

He just looks all...

You miss Mommy?

His face is just the same shape
as yours.

I know.

I kept calling him
my older son's name,

'cause they look the same.

Aw...

Is he waking up a lot now?

-No, he's actually good.

He sleeps a lot, eh?

We better put something
on those little feet, eh?

You just want to be
back in there, hey?

Wow.

Are you dreaming?

Are you dreaming?

You got your mommy's face.

They said even that helps him.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, holding him, like,

just so he feels all,
feels something all around.

If you leave him
lying on the bed to, um...

You know how grandmas
wrap them really tight?

That helps him
to feel secure, hey?

He still wants
to curl his little feet up

like he's inside you. See?

Do you hear your mama's voice?

Hmm? Is she here?

That's so good that worked out
that way, hey? Yeah.

Children's Services
didn't interfere at all?

No. Like, they did call,

but the hospital told them
they had no concerns,

and same with Leslie,
so they just...

Because we're coming back here,
they let us go.

That's wonderful, hey?

So no worries about
Children's Services coming

and taking him away.

Look at that.

Look at those lips.

Oh, he's going to open his eyes.

Come on.

Oh, are you waking up?

Oh, look at you.

Look at that stretch.

His eyes are like yours, eh?

Okay.

I think I have
to get to work here.