SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The high number of suicides in indigenous communities has not changed for decades and action on several fronts is needed to tackle the crisis, a new study from the federal government has found.
Yellowknives Dene First Nation Chief Ernest Betsina says most First Nations are limited with resources to address suicide. - NNSL file photo |
Breaking Point: The Suicide Crisis in Indigenous Communities, by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, found indigenous people face suicide rates three times higher than the general public; among youth, the rate is six times higher.
The report states those numbers have not changed since the 1990s.
Michael McLeod, MP for the NWT and member of the standing committee which drafted the report, said he heard youth in particular are feeling lost and disconnected.
"We have a long way to go, in terms of making people proud of who they are no matter what nationality or what race they are," McLeod said.
"We're seeing a lot of youth saying they're lost, they don't know who they are. They don't have a connection with the elders, they don't have a connection with their history and lost language."
The committee heard from around 100 witnesses in urban and remote communities, including 50 youth.
It found 12 per cent of First Nations people had reported a close friend or family member committing suicide. Among First Nations living off-reserve, 17 per cent between the ages of 18 and 25 and 24 per cent between the ages of 26 and 59 reported suicidal thoughts.
The numbers are higher in the four Inuit regions, where rates of suicide are five to 25 times the national rate and young males are at the highest risk at 40 times the national rate.
Among Metis, 16 per cent of people aged 18 to 25 and 19.6 per cent between the ages of 26 and 59 had suicidal thoughts in their lifetime.
McLeod said it is no surprise the recommendations of the report mirror those of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action.
The shared experience of intergenerational trauma creates real risks for communities across Canada.
"The fallout from residential schools is so prevalent all over the country and especially so in the North," he said.
"There's still a lot of abuse, a lot of trauma - there's still a lot of post-traumatic stress happening and there's a lot of sexual abuse."
The report includes 28 recommendations for the federal government, including self-determination, housing and education.
Ernest Betsina, chief of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, said his nation is limited in its resources.
"I'm certainly hoping that the federal government and the territorial government take this seriously and this money will filter down to the First Nation for the grassroots people that actually do need help with suicide prevention," he said.
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Jennifer Drygeese, wellness director for the First Nation, said she would like to see the federal government work directly with communities.
Currently, the GNWT receives money from the federal government and distributes it.
This leads to a loss of money, Drygeese explained, when it is funneled down to the community level.
"We don't receive all that much funding that we could probably access if we were to go directly to the government through block funding," she said.
Drygeese said the wellness program is a holistic approach that hires widely in the community. It covers about 575 YKDFN members living in Dettah and Ndilo and accommodates indigenous people in Yellowknife, but only has funding for one counsellor.
Drygeese said she reduces spending in other areas so the program can have another part-time counsellor.
She said the wellness program needs more support in the areas of mental health and addictions counselling, as well as family wellness.
Ideally, she said she would like to see the family wellness program expanded to have one staff member work with elders and another work with the families in the community individually.
Several recommendations in the report call for the federal government to take action toward indigenous self-determination as it lessens the risk of suicide.
Betsina said self-determination makes sense as the nations know their own people best.
"They know what they want and they know what the individuals that they're trying to help (need) and (in) which areas they need help," he said.
"What better people to help themselves than themselves, each other?"
McLeod said the report has not yet been reviewed by the federal government, as it was released at the end of June.
He said he is confident the standing committee will ensure the report doesn't get lost as things move forward.
