IQALUIT
Inuit youth are feeling the impact of drastic modernization, of trauma to their elders and of the results of socio-economic inequality, and they called on the Government of Canada to step up and help as partners.

Four Inuit youth leaders testified in front of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs on the subject of Suicide Among Indigenous Peoples and Communities in Iqaluit Sept. 23. They are Nunatisiavut Government Youth Division youth representative Nina Ford, National Inuit Youth Council president Maatalii Okalik, Nunavik's Qarjuit Youth Council president Alicia Aragutak and Qarjuit vice-president Louisa Yeates. - Michele LeTourneau/NNSL photo

This, and more, is what a panel of four Inuit youth leaders told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs in Iqaluit Sept. 23. The committee is travelling to communities who have felt the horrifying impacts of high rates of suicide.

The committee heard from three other panels Sept. 23, which included representatives from the Government of Nunavut, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. the Nunatsiavut Government, the Embrace Life Council and Nunavut Kamatsiaqtut Help Line. The Ilisaqsivik Society was scheduled to appear, but weather made the trip from Clyde River impossible.

"I can positively report that Inuit youth are in a state of identity crisis," National Inuit Youth Council president Maatalii Okalik testified.

"To your predecessors who have once been seated in the House of Commons, this would be very good news."

Committee members, made up of six members of Parliament from all three national parties, displayed some shock at this statement.

Okalik continued. "Why do I say this? Because strategic assimilation policies and acts by government to create relationship dependencies with government as reflected in our statistics have proven to be successful - to an extent.

"You and your honourable colleagues, however, have the ability to reverse such a reality and take a leadership role in contributing to the elimination of social inequities. A key area of this important work ahead of you and us is Inuit cultural continuity. Mobilizing Inuit knowledge for resilience and suicide prevention is a mitigating factor for suicide. Our language and our culture are key."

Okalik's testimony was echoed by Nunavik's Qarjuit Youth Council president Alicia Aragutak, Qarjuit vice-president Louisa Yeates and Nunatisiavut Government Youth Division youth representative Nina Ford.

Yeates stated drastic modernization of Inuit society has the youth experiencing an identity crisis.

"We strongly feel that the youth today has not to their full potential been passed down their true identity as Inuit," she said, adding this has a "major impact on self-esteem and self-confidence on our youth population."

Without the sense of identity, said Yeates, "one does not have the solid foundation on this path of life."

Other factors listed were high cost of living and lack of housing - endemic to all Inuit regions.

As Yeates replied to a question from an MP, she told her own story of growing up in the city as the daughter of a residential school survivor, then returning to her community.

"It was really hard for me to assimilate back into my own culture. It was really difficult. I rebelled. The person I am now is definitely not the person I was as a teenager. I had no coping mechanisms. I had no idea how to deal with it. And this is how a lot of the youth are right now," said Yeates.

Don't give up

"They are trying to figure out how to cope with something that's missing that they don't know."

Yeates turned to a class of students attending the public session.

"I'm going to say this to you all right now. Don't give up. I was there, too. I was being kicked out of school. I was pregnant. And I was able to get where I am. So don't ever give up," she said fiercely.

Ford testified that "suicide is such a common tragedy that every time the phone rings your heart stops."

The women spoke eloquently about the need for long-term, stable funding for programming. The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was cited as a program that helped, but that program was shut down by the Conservative government in 2014.

"I look to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action and as I speak for Inuit youth, I point specifically to Call to Action number 66 which indicates, 'We call upon the federal government to establish multi-year funding for community-based youth organizations to deliver programs on reconciliation, and establish a national network to share information and best practices,'" said Okalik.

"This is achievable and I see this as a solution that requires action of the federal government and serves as a holistic approach, on a community-by-community basis, for suicide prevention. It is everyone's responsibility. Communities know what they need, but require the appropriate investment to do so. Short term funding that yields short term results can no longer be the norm."

Ford spoke about striking a balance.

"No one can deny the material benefits of modern life. But we are still faced with suffering, perhaps more now than before. So it is only sensible to try to strike a balance between material development and the development of spiritual and cultural benefits.

"In order to bring about great change, we need to revive and strengthen our Inuit values and culture. We also need to deal with housing and children in care."

Expectations vs. reality

Later, while being questioned on the issue of children in care, Okalik called the practice as related to Inuit children as "the new residential school," while one of her colleagues noted the Child Protection Act was not culturally relevant. Speaking on the requirements of foster homes, one said those standards can't be met in Inuit regions because of the housing crisis, and so children are being ripped from their communities and culture.

"Strength and resilience is laid out in our language, culture and practices. I find when I'm speaking to you, there's a lot of anxiety and stress around the status of youth related to completing school and going out into the working world. There's an expectation -- do well in school, go to post-secondary education, find a good job, find a good partner and raise a family," said Okalik.

"There's that linear expectation. But the reality is it doesn't work that way. Especially when we have the risks we have from the social inequities in our homeland."

Okalik said she was in constant crisis mode because of "our realities and having to constantly respond to crisis instead of being able to focus on that path."

Children and youth need to have the opportunities to learn their language and thrive in their culture and practices in order to have that strength and resilience when a crisis does come up, she said.

Committee chairperson Andy Fillmore said a report would be completed sometime in the new year and he emphasized the report would inform government policy and budgetary decisions, adding testimony would have a "real impact."

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