Manitobans need to deal with aboriginal youths’ sense of hopelessness

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This article was published 20/05/2009 (6010 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Manitobans need to work to address the entrenched sense of hopelessness that leads many aboriginal youth to suicide, a local researcher says.

Dr. Catherine Cook, executive director of Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s aboriginal health programs, said many First Nations communities are isolated and lack proper health infrastructure to deal with youth suicide. Cook said youth feel hopeless, and there is often no support for them in their communities.

“If aboriginal youth don’t see any hope for the future, supports in their communities, how are they possibly going to achieve their dreams?” Cook said.

“I think that’s one of the real tragedies of the system we live in that this continues to happen.”

Cook was one of four local researchers who spoke at a panel discussion about aboriginal youth suicide at The Forks Wednesday night.

Earlier this week, news surfaced that three children committed suicide in Pukatawagan in recent months and many more have tried, including a 13-year-old boy who hanged himself in April. Two children from Shamattawa have also taken their lives so far this year.

The rash of suicides prompted Pukatawagan to beg Ottawa for help, including long-term counselling, a suicide prevention curriculum in schools, clinical experts, grief counsellors and training for teachers so they can recognize suicidal students.

Two more teens committed suicide last October within days of each other. Staff in Pukatawagan say more than two dozen other children and teens in 11 northern reserves have committed suicide in the last year while federal politicians do little.

Cook said she’s optimistic the situation can change if Manitobans work together to break down jurisdictional divides, and focus on people in communities who need help. The divide between federal and provincial health jurisdictions is still one of the main reasons that many First Nations communities don’t have the proper supports to deal with issues like youth suicide, she said.

Cook said healthy communities foster healthy youth, and First Nations communities need to work with federal and provincial partners to hammer out long-term solutions.

“It’s not just a health issue,” she said. “It’s a responsibility of all of us as Manitobans to work together to resolve this.”

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca