“A former prime minister of Canada, when asked about the suicide epidemic in Attawapiskat perpetuated such assimilationist views in suggesting that First Nations peoples should just leave their communities”, Ashton said, adding, “First Nations people, and many people that work in solidarity with First Nations peoples know that these views are unacceptable”. The full debate was set for later Tuesday. More than 100 people in the community have attempted suicide since last September, and one person died, according to CTV.
Advertisement
He pledged efforts to “improve living conditions for all indigenous peoples”.
Health Minister Jane Philpott says five mental health workers have arrived in the community of about 2,000 people.
“I think tonight might be the beginning of a change in our country and that’s what I’m asking us all to come together to do”, he said in the emergency debate.
Activists from the group Idle No More have occupied the offices of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada in a show of solidarity with the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario.
In 2011, the United Nations special rapporteur for indigenous people said he was “deeply concerned” about living conditions in Attawapiskat.
Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Zimmer said fly-in communities present their own long-standing issues.
McLeod said it was “critical” to “shine the light for communities to actually look at their leadership and what their leadership is doing”.
A Canadian tribe declared a state of emergency in their remote territory after the community was ravaged by a spate of suicide attempts.
An 11-year-old child was in each of the groups treated over the past few days and the attempts follow a total of 28 attempted suicides in the month of March, some of them adults, health officials said.
The isolated communities are often plagued by unemployment and sometimes lack access to clean drinking water, but all have Internet access, allowing them to see the rest of an affluent nation so different from their world.
“The situation facing the people of Attawapiskat is a national tragedy that demands immediate action and I have reached out to Chief Bruce Shisheesh to offer our full support”, said AFN National Chief Bellegarde. “The basic needs are astronomical”.
Canada’s 1.4 million population of First Nation members, who make up about four percent of the population, have a lower life expectancy than other Canadians and are more often victims of violent crime.
Since December, Attawapiskat has seen a rash of prescription drug overdoses sending youth to the hospital in “a fairly new phenomenon”, said Deborah Hill, vice president of patient care at Weeneebayko Area Health Authority, whose region includes the community.
“This issue has been around for years and it’s been talked about many, many times that the suicide rate among young First Nations people is five to seven times the national average”, he said.
We are providing additional assistance to the community following the province’s Emergency Medical Assistance Team’s (EMAT) assessment.
Advertisement
Charlie Angus, a federal legislator from the opposition New Democrats whose constituency includes Attawapiskat, said Canada had betrayed its aboriginal youth. Angus wants Ottawa do more “to end this cycle of crisis and death among young people”, Reuters reports.
