After 20 years struggling with addiction, this Six Nations woman wants to help others win their own battle

It's small things, like a cigarette or a pair of clean socks, Rachel Montour says, that can go a long way to make you feel more human when you’re out on the street.

“Just one moment of someone making eye contact with you, it just, it reminds you of who you are or who you were or who you can be,” Montour told CBC Hamilton.

Montour struggled with addiction since she was 10 years old. At 34, she’s three years sober now and living a “full-circle moment” as she prepares care packages for people in Brantford, Ont., who are homeless.

She started putting them together last year as a way to “pay it forward” and reframe the holidays, which have been tough — first out of her own pocket, and this year, with help from her community in Six Nations.

“It’s been so overwhelmingly positive,” said Montour, who is part of the Kanien'kehá:ka, Wolf Clan.

She accepted donations until Dec. 18 and plans to deliver the packages on Christmas Eve in hopes of making someone’s day brighter.

The care packages include things like a hot meal, gift cards, coats, other winter attire and warmers, snacks, and small things like clean, dry socks as well as journals and information on where to get help.

Some will also include marijuana pre-rolls and cigarettes, something Montour says could help, like it did for her.

“[The marijuana] gave me an appetite to be able to eat, which helped with the withdrawals. It helped me sleep that day,” she said.

Montour struggled with addiction for 20 years.

“By the time I was in Grade 9, I was a full-blown addict. I wouldn't have called myself that then. And maybe my family didn't know either, but that's what I was,” she said.

In 2021, the rate of opioid-related deaths among First Nations people in Ontario was seven times higher than in people who aren't Indigenous, according to a report by the Chiefs of Ontario and the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network.

Indigenous people are also disproportionately affected by the drug crisis, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). In some provinces, there's also data showing Indigenous people are more likely to die from addiction.

"[In B.C.] Indigenous women are eight times more likely to have a nonfatal overdose and five times more likely to have a fatal overdose than non-Indigenous women," according to the CMAJ.