The news that seven more people have died in the past few months during the Yukon’s ongoing opioid crisis has rocked the territory.

“Blood Ties is heartbroken to hear of an additional seven Yukoners lost to overdose,” said Bronte Renwick-Shields, the executive director of Blood Ties Four Directions.

“Each of these people represents a loved one, family member, friend and valued member of our community, and our deepest condolences go out to those who are grieving these losses.

“It is devastating and deeply concerning to hear of the increasing numbers of overdose deaths in the Yukon,” she said.

Chief coroner Heather Jones reported Monday that 21 Yukoners have died from opioid overdoses since last Jan. 1.

All the deaths involved opioids in various forms of fentanyl, and a large percentage involved cocaine.

Since the spring of 2016, there have been 54 Yukon deaths from illicit drug use.

Blood Ties operates the government’s supervised consumption site, which opened approximately two months ago on Sixth Avenue near Cook Street.

“There are solutions to this crisis, and now is the time to take brave action,” Bronte Renwick-Shields said.

“As we continue to see an alarming rate of overdose death in the Yukon, we know that overdose affects us all, and that as a community, we need to come together to end this crisis.

“We need to work together to end the stigma that people who use drugs experience in our community so that people can feel safe to reach out to supports.” she added.

“We need to expand access to opioid agonist therapy programs in rural communities and safe supply access throughout Yukon,” Bronte Renwick-Shields said.

“We need to stop criminalizing a health crisis and decriminalize substance use so that people who use drugs and their loved ones can call 911 without fear of being criminalized.”

Annie Blake, the NDP MLA for Vuntut Gwitchin, said much the same thing Monday in the legislature.

She called on the Yukon government to declare a public health state of emergency to deal with the crisis.

“It’s beyond alarming,” she said. “There’s no time for more excuses and empty promises. Too many Yukoners have died.

“(Monday), we learned that the Yukon’s rate of opioid-related death has surpassed B.C. It means that the Yukon is now the jurisdiction with the most opioid-related deaths per capita in Canada,” Blake noted.

“This is not a record that any province or territory wants to hold. Opioid deaths now represent more than one in five deaths that are investigated by the coroner this year.”

There is only one word for it, she said: a tragedy.

“The people of Mayo have sent us a plea for help, but we know that every community in the Yukon is grappling with this,” she said.

“When will the government declare a public health emergency in the Yukon to help fight this devastating opioid crisis?”

While the government is working on providing a safe supply for drug users in Whitehorse, Blake added, the same program hasn’t made its way into the smaller communities, such as Mayo.

She demanded the government make it a goal to do so by the end of the year, but received no solid promises.

Blake also filed a notice of motion calling on the government to decriminalize all recreational drugs.

The motion read “that this House urges the Government of Yukon to apply for an exemption under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act to decriminalize personal use of all illegal drugs in the Yukon.”

Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee did not dispute the notion the situation is a crisis.

“It’s nothing less than a medical crisis,” she told the assembly.

McPhee said she isn’t opposed to the idea of declaring a public health emergency. She called it another tool to be used, but added the situation requires a multi-government collaboration.

“It’s something to be discussed,” she said.

Renwick-Shields said Blood Ties “encourages anyone ingesting, snorting or injecting their drugs to utilize the supervised consumption site in Whitehorse.

Naloxone, drug-checking and overdose prevention education are available at Blood Ties at 405 Ogilvie St, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, at the supervised consumption site from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and on the Outreach Van every night of the week from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., she noted.

“As stated in the coroner’s report, we have seen incidents of overdose where increasing amounts of naloxone are required to respond,” Renwick-Shields said.

“At this time, we encourage people who use drugs or who are likely to witness an overdose to carry more than one naloxone kit and to ensure that they are trained and comfortable administering this life saving medication.”