Understanding opioid and substance use, and barriers to accessing support for Canada's labour workers

Read the full report here.

Opioid-related harms and deaths in Canada have significantly increased since the government began tracking the statistics in 2016.

The COVID-19 pandemic has played a role in worsening this crisis, with multiple regions reporting a rise in fatal overdoses and other related harms since the pandemic began.

According to the Government of Canada, there were over 8,400 apparent opioid toxicity deaths in 2023, a 128% increase from 2019. Since 2016, around 3 out of 4 opioid-related deaths in Canada were men.