Monday, July 6, 1998
When coroners get together to discuss their work, the topics are rarely
upbeat. Recently, the territorial coroners met in Iqaluit. On the agenda
were distressing figures that show that suicide in the North is rising.
In the East, the statistics are bone-chilling. The suicide rate in Nunavut
is six times the national average.
In the West, the news isn't much better. Although the suicide rate
has dropped over the last ten years, the rate is still markedly higher than
the national rate.
Sadly, it is in the suicide rate that we see how much work there is
to be done in solving the North's problems.
The reasons for this continuing tragedy have been offered before:
the loss of culture and tradition, the unsettling transition to modern
conventions, the loss of any hope for a productive future, a lack of
self-esteem that is rooted in the absence of self-reliance, the list goes
on.
Unfortunately, the list of solutions is shorter. Interestingly,
statistics from the community of Sanikiluaq run contrary to the trend.
Coroner John Jamieson suggests that it is because the community has strong
ties to the land and the traditions that are their heritage. He says that
the community is "family-oriented."
The reasons the coroner cites don't include throwing money at the
problem. He didn't talk about solutions dreamed up by psychologists, social
workers or facilitators. He didn't mention quick fixes.
Suicide is the option of last resort for the lost. Suicide is where
people turn when there is no refuge to be found in the community.
There are no fast solutions to the despair that brings on suicide.
Looking at Sanikiluaq, we see that perhaps the answer we have been looking
for has always been in front of us. The job at hand is to restore those
aspects of community and family life that have been lost. Suicide is a
community problem and it is in the communities that the answer lies.
The recent appointment of a fourth interim CEO for the Keewatin Regional
Health Board is a sign the GNWT is not fulfilling the promises they made to
the people of the Keewatin during the region's health crisis last January.
Kelvin Ng, minister of health and social services, said creating stability
in the region's system is essential to improve medical services, which had
reached an all-time low following the Christmas break. At the time, there
were virtually no doctors. A few accredited nurses were keeping the system
together. Four CEOs in six months hardly seems consistent.
With a constant stream of executives and still no new doctors
recruited to stay in the region, what has changed, Mr. Ng? And what are you
going to do about it?
At first glance, it might seem that $95 million isn't all that much. That's
how much extra the federal government is willing to spend on running two
territories rather than one come next year's division. It works out to a
hike of about 10 per cent.
Whether or not such fears are worried is beside the point, however. Ottawa
gives us what it wants to gives us and there's nothing much we can do about
it. So rather than wasting any time debating how much we should get, let's
get down to the task to deciding how to best spend what we're going to get.
Running Nunavut and the remaining NWT is as much a challenge as
ever. We need creative and imaginative leadership, not that kind that
enjoys pointing fingers.
Northern News Services The recent examination of the Native Communications
Society of the Western Arctic is long overdue. NCS has wasted hundreds of
thousands of dollars over the past decade, falling far short of its mandate.
The problem has always been the inexperienced board. However well meaning,
the board has made expensive changes of direction on political whims with
no regard for proper business practices.
Board chairman J.C. Catholique blamed the poor deal NCS struck on
the NWT Communications Centre in Yellowknife on unscrupulous
non-aboriginals. Besides being a racist comment, it's confirmation the
board had no idea what it was doing and still doesn't. It's time the Dene
Nation steps in before the whole concept of aboriginal media dies a quiet
death.
They do it right in the Yukon and Nunavut. It should be done right
in the Western Arctic.
Inuit hunters going after a bowhead whale in Pangnirtung this month
have decided to lift the ban and open their doors to the media.
By doing so, they've declared to the public that they have nothing to hide
and that their victories, or their defeats, are and will continue to be
common knowledge.
While there may be groups opposed to the hunt, allowing media
access will at least remove one point of criticism.
By being open, the public can focus their support for the hunters
without having decide on the merits of conducting the hunt under the cloak
of secrecy.