“Tonight has to be a turning point for us as a country in order to decide together that we will do better”, she said.
Advertisement
In Cross Lake, Manitoba, dozens of people, many of them youths, have attempted suicide this year, said community health director Helga Hamilton.
The suicide crisis at a northern Ontario First Nation was emotionally laid out in the House of Commons Tuesday night.
Lawmaker Charlie Angus, who represents the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat, said in Parliament the crisis has shocked the world and people are asking how Canada can leave so many people behind.
Anna Betty Achneepineskum of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation said police brought a 9-year-old and 12 others to a hospital on Monday for an evaluation after hearing them make a suicide pact. “Suicide and self-inflicted injuries are among the top causes of death for First Nations, Métis and Inuit people, according to studies from Health Canada”.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his commitment to improving living conditions for indigenous people, stating in a tweet Sunday that the news was “heartbreaking”.
Suicide has plagued Canada’s indigenous communities for decades.
Despite tireless efforts from community leaders – from elders to local nurses – the numbers continued to grow. “I therefore grant an emergency debate for this evening”.
The recurring crises in the remote James Bay region First Nation of Attawapiskat are back in the national headlines after a reported rash of suicide attempts.
There have been several crises in Attawapiskat in recent years, including annual spring flooding, contaminated drinking water and a condemned schoolhouse built on the site of a massive diesel spill.
The support seems to be making a difference. There have been more than 700 suicide attempts on First Nation reserves within his riding since 2009, Angus told reporters. The number of students on suicide watch in the school – whose gym was at times used during the crisis to host funerals – has been reduced to some 70 people. “So that’s why we’re here”, Lester said. “It’s tough to recover”.
He lauded the community’s decision to go public with its struggle.
She believes the first step is to start talking about suicide and removing the stigma attached to mental illness. Philpott said the government is investing more than $300 million per year in mental wellness in aboriginal communities. “I have relatives that have attempted to take their own lives…cousins, friends”, he added.
Other initiatives have ranged from sharing circles, peer counselling and suicide prevention training.
McLeod said it was “critical” to “shine the light for communities to actually look at their leadership and what their leadership is doing”.
“It is about people’s attachment to the land, people having a right to live a traditional life and but also with economic opportunities”, she said.
Advertisement
“We need a permanent solution, not just non-natives (counsellors) showing up for a short time”, Calf Child said. “We need training dollars to train up our workers”. The Canadian parliament met for an emergency session Tuesday to address the issue of suicide. “If someone sees their relative or, say, their good friend and they seemingly have solved the problem, it perhaps incites in them the idea, hence the contagion element”.
