McLeod said it was “critical” to “shine the light for communities to actually look at their leadership and what their leadership is doing”.
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Officials said 18 additional people – including a crisis coordinator, two youth support workers and a psychologist – have been deployed as temporary crisis relief.
Mauricette Howlett, the department’s regional director general for Ontario, did eventually meet with the group and told the protesters everyone is affected by the “tragic” suicide crisis.
Since last September, there have been 100 suicide attempts in the Northern Ontario town of Attawapiskat, and the First Nations community has declared a state of emergency.
A group of protestors from both the Idle No More and Black Lives Matter movements staged a sit-in Wednesday at the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada office in Toronto, over concerns about a suicide epidemic in the Attawapiskat First Nations community.
Charlie Angus, the local member of parliament, told the Canadian Press it was part of a “rolling nightmare” of more and more suicide attempts among young people throughout the winter.
People who attempt or follow through with suicide do so for two reasons: One is situational like the breakdown of a relationship or loss of a loved one and the other is due to mental health like depression. The realization that doctors and nurses could only do so much to improve a population’s overall health was what ultimately made her enter politics, she said.
Hoskins acknowledged that the province hasn’t done enough in the past to help communities like Attawapiskat. “There were never suicide pacts before in the last 30 years that I’m aware of”.
“The situation in Attawapiskat is sadly felt by far too many First Nations across the country”, said National Chief Bellegarde.
These cries of despair clearly mirror those felt by numerous First Nation communities in Canada, which raises more questions about the treatment of Indigenous Peoples throughout North America. Twenty-eight suicide attempts were reported last month in the Northern-Canadian community of 2,000 people.
“We need a mental health worker, we need a youth worker”, Shisheesh said. “This is systemic discrimination”.
Other isolated First Nations also have experienced repeated crises over the years, attracting brief national attention that did little to change the community trajectories.
Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Zimmer said fly-in communities, which can be reached only by air, present their own long-standing issues.
“When I think that there are communities in our country where … young people in groups are deciding that there is no hope for their future, we must do better, we have to find a way to go forward”, Philpott said.
“We would like to hear that they are doing more than just sending social workers after the fact”.
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“The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking”, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted. He also cited overcrowding in the area’s homes, with up to 15 people living in one house.In 2008, global diamond giant De Beers began production from its Victor Mine, 90 kilometres west of Attawapiskat. It provides employment and royalties to the community, including contributing to a trust fund which some reports now value at $13 million.
