OTTAWA — The Public Health Agency of Canada has released new data showing that than 3,200 Canadians died after apparent opioid-related overdoses between January and September last year.
The data also indicates that fentanyl and other fentanyl-related substances continue to be a "major driver" of Canada's opioid crisis, with 73 per cent of accidental apparent opioid-related deaths in the nine-month span involving the potent painkilling drug.
Public Health says the crisis continues to affect the entire country but certain regions, including B.C., Alberta and Ontario, have been hit harder than others.
Apparent opioid-related deaths are counted through data provided by the provinces and territories from offices of chief coroners or medical examiners.
Opioids can be hard to disentangle from other factors in a death, including different drugs and underlying illnesses, so the numbers take a long time to crunch and come with qualifiers.
But Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public-health officer, says the newly released figures serve as a "stark reminder" of the importance of maintaining and ramping up efforts to stop the epidemic.
"As we take the pain of these losses and the deeply concerning data to heart we must continue to strengthen our collaborative public health response," she said in a statement.