Tying Together Learnings from Regional Overdose Crisis Gatherings

This seminar builds on multi-year engagement led by the Indigenous Primary Health Care & Policy Research Network (IPHCPR) to grow strategy with Alberta First Nations in response to the overdose crisis. Grounded in learnings shared across six IPHCPR gatherings with Elders, leaders, service providers, frontline workers, and community members, this work reflects ongoing efforts to synthesize insights across policy, funding, access to care, and governance systems that continue to shape substance-use outcomes for Indigenous peoples.

Using the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum (FNMWC) Framework as a guiding lens, the synthesis highlights community-identified challenges, strengths, and opportunities for action across the continuum of care. Recurrent themes emphasize accessibility, resource constraints, governance gaps, and the importance of culturally grounded, Nation-driven approaches.

This session shares back these learnings and introduces early development toward an outcomes-based Strategic Action Framework. Co-designed with Indigenous partners across policy, service delivery, community, and advocacy sectors, the framework will support future strategy building, intervention design, and collaborative action. Participants will be invited to deepen understanding of the systemic context and contribute to shaping a collective, Indigenous-led path forward as the co-development process continues into 2026.