Knowledge Resources & Publications

Carol Hopkins and Marcia Anderson

Webinar: Crystal Meth - Developing respectful approaches and solutions for Indigenous health

September 2019

Overview

A webinar hosted by the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH) and the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCCID).

There is limited data available on methamphetamine use, particularly among the Indigenous population in Canada. Much of the information and research on this substance is dated, as it was developed primarily in the early 2000’s during the first surge of the methamphetamine crisis. This webinar is intended to provide public health professionals and organizations with basic information about the drug and factors leading to use, the clinical effects it can have, particularly regarding infectious diseases, and ideas for strengthening partnerships with Indigenous organizations to develop respectful and culturally relevant approaches and solutions.

Learning objectives

  • To discuss individual and community needs and ideas for strengthening partnerships with Indigenous organizations and communities to develop respectful and culturally relevant approaches and solutions.
  • To increase knowledge and understanding about crystal methamphetamine including a history, patterns of use, and pharmacology.
  • To examine crystal meth use implications for infectious diseases.
  • To examine stigma and crystal meth use.
  • To examine harm reduction.

Speakers

Carol Hopkins is the Executive Director of the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation (a division of the National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation) and is of the Lenape Nation at Moraviantown, ON. Carol was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Canada, 2018. In 2019, she was recognized with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Western University. Carol Hopkins has spent more than 20 years in the field of First Nations addictions and mental health. She holds both a Masters of Social Work Degree from the University of Toronto and a degree in sacred Indigenous Knowledge, equivalent to a PhD in western based education systems. Carol also holds a sessional faculty position in the School of Social Work at Kings University College at Western University.

Carol has co-chaired national initiatives known for best practice in national policy review and development, resulting in the: First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework (FNMWC), the Honouring Our Strengths: A Renewed Framework to Address Substance Use Issues Among First Nations in Canada, the Indigenous Wellness Framework, and best practice guidelines for culturally based inhalant abuse treatment. Carol has also inspired the development of the Native Wellness Assessment. In recognition of this work, Carol received the Champions of Mental Health Award 2015 for Research/Clinician, the Health Canada Innovations Award, was a member of the leadership advisory council to the Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care and was part of the Canadian delegation to the 2016 United Nations General Assembly, Special Session on the World Drug Problem. Carol also participates on a national mental health advisory council to the federal Minister of Health.

Dr. Marcia Anderson is Cree-Anishinaabe and grew up in the North End of Winnipeg. Her family roots go to the Norway House Cree Nation and Peguis First Nation in Manitoba. She practices both Internal Medicine and Public Health as a Medical Officer of Health with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. She is the Executive Director of Indigenous Academic Affairs in the Ongomiizwin Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba.

Current active areas of work include leading the development and implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Response Action Plans, Indigenous youth health, and Indigenous health care quality. She serves as the Chair of the Indigenous Health Network of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada. She is a Past President of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada and Past Chair of the Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors Congress. She was recognized for her contributions to Indigenous peoples health with a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in March 2011. In 2018 she was named one of the 100 most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network.

Suggested Readings

CTCHC (Central Toronto Community Health Centres) and CATIE (Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange). (2017). Tips for Preventing Overdoses from Uppers. Toronto, ON.


CTCHC (Central Toronto Community Health Centres) and CATIE (Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange). (2017). Tips for Preventing Crystal Meth Overdoses. Toronto, ON.


Report of the Standing Committee on Health. (2019). Impacts of Methamphetamine Abuse in Canada. Ottawa, ON.


Webinar resources