Native Canadian chief meets premier over suicide crisis

The head of an aboriginal community in Canada has met with the country’s premier, hoping to find a solution to an alarming rise in suicides and suicide attempts among his people.

Bruce Shisheesh, the chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation community, met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday to find a way to stop a wave of suicides that has gripped his community of nearly 3,000 people over the past months.

“It was a start. I’m still concerned, though. We’re still struggling,” said Chief Shisheesh after the meeting with the premier.

The remote community, which is based in northern Ontario Province at the mouth of the Attawapiskat River on James Bay, made headlines around the world in April, when it declared a state of emergency over the crisis.

According to Attawapiskat’s chief, his community has seen over 100 suicide attempts in the previous seven months, one of which led to the death of the person. The youngest community member to attempt suicide was 11 years old, while the oldest was 71.

“We’re in crisis mode. Just about every night, there is a suicide attempt,” Chief Shisheesh said on April 11.

The premier had called the situation as “heartbreaking” at the time.

A housing crisis in the community, coupled with other issues such as unemployment, has caused mental health issues for the members of Attawapiskat, developing suicidal tendencies in them.

As many as 18 people from Attawapiskat often live in three-bedroom houses, many of them riddled with mould.

The meeting with Trudeau on Monday came as another six youths were reported to have tried to commit suicide in recent days.

Trudeau announced in a written statement on Monday that his government allocated nearly $70 million in new funding over three years to address the health and suicide issues involving aboriginal communities.

“While we will continue to engage Indigenous partners in finding long-term solutions to these pressing issues, we know that urgent action is needed," he added, after meeting with a delegation of more than 20 Aboriginal youths from Ontario.

Back in March, another aboriginal community known as Cross Lake Community or the Pimicikamak Cree Nation, in Manibota Province declared a state of emergency over increasing numbers of suicides among its 8,300 members.

Six people in the community had committed suicide in two months, while 140 others attempted to kill themselves in just two weeks.

The 1.4 million Aboriginals in Canada make up almost five percent of the country’s total population of more than 35 million.

They struggle with poverty and desperation as well as high rates of crime, suicide and unemployment. They also have a lower life expectancy than other Canadians.

Prime Minister Trudeau, who came to power in November 2015, has promised to mend relations with Canada’s indigenous peoples.

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