say they have made a grand total of 26 arrests for trafficking fentanyl in the NWT in the past eight years. Only one of those arrests happened in Yellowknife.
And between April 1, 2020 to March 12, 2025, there have only been three arrests made for possessing fentanyl. None of those arrests happened in the city. The police added that a demographic breakdown of these arrests is not available.
Fentanyl is an opioid used for treating pain. In the past several years, illegal trade in the drug has grown across the country. However, in the NWT, the official figures don't seem to indicate that.
Based on the most recent data on overdoses and deaths involving opioids, Health Canada SA国际影视传媒� a federal department SA国际影视传媒� reports that five deaths per 100,000 people occurred in the NWT in the first nine months of 2024. For a territory with a population of about 45,000 people, that would mean two people in the NWT died by opioid toxicity between January and September 2024.
The of opioid deaths in the country during that same time frame, except for maybe Nunavut, where statistics are not available.
It's key to note, however, that non-fatal overdoses are not reported in the NWT, according to the Department of Health and Social Services. What the department could share is that between 2016 to 2024, the territory recorded 19 fentanyl-related fatal overdoses.
"One of those deaths was recorded in 2016; the other 18 deaths occurred from 2020-2024. In 15 of the 19 recorded fatalities, cocaine was also a contributing factor to the death," according to department spokesperson Andrew Wind.
The demographic breakdown of those deaths is as follows, according to the department:
Gender and age:
- Six females; median age 36 (ranging from 23-49)
- 13 males; median age 34 (ranging from 20-57)
Ethnicity:
- 12 Indigenous people
- 6 non-Indigenous people
- 1 unknown ethnicity
Indigenous people represent approximately half of the NWT's total population.
Between 2016-2024, fatal fentanyl-related overdoses happened in eight of the NWTSA国际影视传媒檚 33 communities, according to Wind. Between 2020-2024, four fentanyl-related overdose deaths occurred in Yellowknife.
Hay River had the most fentanyl-related overdose deaths SA国际影视传媒� eight SA国际影视传媒� which took place between 2020-2024. Five of those deaths happened in 2022, Wind added. Two individuals died in small communities while the remaining five were in regional centres.
Opioid-related deaths peaked in the NWT in 2022, at seven deaths per 100,000 people, according to Health Canada. The NWT was at its lowest rate in 2017 and 2019, at one opioid death per 100,000 people.
Opioid-related hospitalizations are harder to parse, as Health Canada clumps all three territories together. Between Yukon, the NWT and Nunavut, there were 24 opioid related hospitalizations per 100,000 people in 2024.
It's a rather stark contrast compared to the rest of the country. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, there have been more than 50,000 apparent opioid toxicity deaths reported nationally between January 2016 and September 2024.
In 2024 alone, the country saw an average of 105 emergency medical services responses daily to suspected opioid-related overdoses.
Do these statistics track with what social workers and harm reduction staff see on a daily basis? It's hard to say, as the NWT Health and Social Services declined to provide someone with an interview.
NWT courts do not track the number of arrests made related to fentanyl, according to senior communications advisor with the Department of Justice, Ngan Trinh. She also noted the operates independently of the GNWT's Department of Justice.
"NWT courts do track the number of charges that are prosecuted under a specific section of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, but do not track charges by type of drug," said Trinh.
Minister of Justice and Premier R.J. Simpson said the GNWT is working on new legislation, civil forfeiture laws and trespassing legislation to help police shut down drug houses and stop crime.
Simpson also mentioned what appears to be a recent rise in shootings and homicides, which has impacted families and communities across the NWT.
"The harms of the illegal drug trade go beyond violence SA国际影视传媒� it fuels addiction, deepens trauma, and threatens the well-being of Northerners," he said. "The GNWT remains committed to supporting law enforcement and providing them with the tools they need to combat organized crime and keep communities safe."
