TORONTO and OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Several youth in Attawapiskat First Nation
were brought into the local hospital on Monday and might have been
members of a suicide pact, according to a deputy grand chief who
represents the reserve, which declared a state of emergency after 11
suicide attempts in a single day over the weekend.
Reached
late Monday evening, Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Anna
Betty Achneepineskum told The Globe and Mail that police advised her
they are investigating a potential suicide pact among youth in the
remote Ontario community. Ms. Achneepineskum said her understanding is
that while the 11 attempts on Saturday are believed to be separate
incidents, the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service were alerted to a group of
youth that may have been planning to take their own lives Monday
evening.
“I have no idea as to the extent of the
conversations. I just know that the children were overheard talking
about conspiring to commit suicide tonight,” Ms. Achneepineskum said.
“If that’s not a suicide pact, I don’t know what is.”
The
police service could not be reached for comment Monday evening, but the
director of the regional health authority that serves Attawapiskat told
The Globe that police officers brought in at least seven youth for
treatment and assessment on Monday. Police in Ontario have the
authority, under the Mental Health Act, to apprehend individuals that
they have reasonable grounds to believe might harm themselves. Crystal
Culp, of the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority, which serves
Attawapiskat, said all of the youth saw a mental-health counsellor and
some were treated medically. As of Monday evening, at least two were
still being treated because they had “medical issues that need to be
addressed,” she said.
Attawapiskat
Chief Bruce Shisheesh declared a state of emergency Saturday evening,
triggering an influx of health resources onto a reserve that, like so
many other northern communities, grapples with sparse and unpredictable
health and social services. “Community front-line resources are
exhausted and no additional outside resources are available,” said the
hand-written declaration, signed by Mr. Shisheesh at 9:24 p.m. on
Saturday.
The federal and provincial
governments have deployed health teams to the remote Ontario community –
the latest in a string of crises in isolated indigenous communities
across Canada this year. The declaration in Attawapiskat came on the
heels of the fatal La Loche school shooting in Saskatchewan, a spate of
suicides that left six people dead in Manitoba’s Pimicikamak community,
and a deadly house fire that killed nine family members on Ontario’s
Pikangikum First Nation, which has long battled a suicide epidemic of
its own.
“This is one of the most
serious and pressing tragedies that our nation is facing,” federal
Health Minister Jane Philpott told the House of Commons on Monday. “I am
devastated by the situation that is taking place in Attawapiskat.” She
announced that five new mental-health workers have been sent to
Attawapiskat, a community of about 2,000 that is accessible only by air
and a 300-kilometre winter road that connects it to Moosonee, which
provides access to the south via rail link.
The
Ontario government is also sending an emergency medical assistance team
that includes nurses, nurse practitioners and social workers, and the
Weeneebayko hospital in Moose Factory is sending a crisis team focused
on mental health. “We will do everything we can to put the supports in
place,” Premier Kathleen Wynne told the Ontario legislature Monday.
The
day before Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency, Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau met with northern Ontario indigenous leaders in Thunder
Bay to discuss a range of issues affecting First Nation communities in
the province, including poor water quality, inadequate housing and the
alarming rate at which aboriginals are taking their own life.
Suicide
and self-inflicted injuries are the leading cause of death of First
Nations people under the age of 45, and First Nations youth are five to
six times more likely to die by suicide than their non-indigenous
counterparts. On Twitter on Sunday evening, Mr. Trudeau called the news
out of Attawapiskat “heartbreaking.”
In
an interview with The Globe on Monday, Assembly of First Nations
National Chief Perry Bellegarde said it is time for all levels of
government to make improvements to housing, education and skills
training that will inspire hope among young people.
“It’s
terrible that chiefs have to go to that point of declaring a state of
emergency,” said Mr. Bellegarde, expressing some optimism that the
national attention will lead to better services, particularly for youth.
“Why do they turn to suicide? They have to be filled with hope and
inspiration … [They have to] see that their life is worthwhile and
meaningful.”
Attawapiskat has declared a
state of emergency several times over the past decade as a result of
poor water quality, sewage contamination and a housing shortage. The
latter declaration, in October of 2011, set off lingering tensions
between Attawapiskat and Ottawa, with the then-ruling Conservatives
questioning why the housing crisis existed given the millions provided
to the community over the years
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