Article content

VANCOUVER — Life expectancy rates in Canada have stopped increasing for the first time in four decades, says a Statistics Canada report that blames opioid-related overdoses for deaths in British Columbia, followed by Alberta.

Canadians concerned about young adults dying from overdoses should demand drug-policy changes by “holding politicians’ feet to the fire,” said an addictions specialist responding to the data released Thursday.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Life expectancy stops increasing in Canada due to B.C. opioid overdose deaths: stats Back to video

“I don’t understand, truthfully, how governments are making decisions that pertain to this issue because we’re hemorrhaging money with bad drug policy and poor health-care spending,” said Dr. Keith Ahamad of the high rates of deaths.

Statistics Canada said life expectancy did not go up from 2016 to 2017 for either men or women after an upward trend from the mid-1990s to 2012, but overall gains then started to stall.

“In particular, the drug overdose crisis occurring in Canada was a major contributing factor in the change seen in life expectancy from 2016 to 2017, especially for men,” the agency said in a report.