Communities work to reduce suicide rates

Epidemic of suicides plagues First Nation community; a First Nation community in crisis; Aboriginal youth issues need to be addressed—these are just some of the headlines that have been making the news in the last three months.

While the rest of the world appears just to be waking up, once again, to the high suicide rates within Aboriginal communities, the communities themselves are working to find solutions to the problem.

In Old Crow, the Yukon’s most remote community, developing any sort of special initiative to address the issue of suicide hasn’t been necessary, because suicide hasn’t been a problem. The suicide rate in the community has always been very low, and there hasn’t been a suicide in Old Crow since the mid-1990s.

The small village—the only village in the territory without road access and the only Yukon community located north of the Arctic Circle, is home to the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation. Vuntut Gwitchin Chief Joe Linklater believes the close ties the community members have to their culture and traditional way of life plays a large part in keeping the problem at bay.

“The culture was actually practiced rather than talked about. People were trapping and speaking the language, hunting, and we’re still very much a hunting culture,” Joe Linklater said. “I think it was just a good strong cultural belief. We live in a small tight community so there’s good family support and a lot of self-sufficiency that’s still practiced.”

Counselling services are available to the 300 or so community members, provided by a community nurse, community leaders and Elders. The ban on alcohol that’s been in place in the community for the past 16 years has also played an undeniable role in keeping the community healthy.

The story is quite different in Sandy Bay, a remote northern community in Saskatchewan that is now beginning its efforts to recover and find solutions after suffering through a wave of devastating suicides, with at least five suicides and at least as many attempts over the course of a few months. The most recent community member to take her own life was a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide in February, but not before expressing the hopelessness she was feeling by writing one last poem.

 “Maybe they haven’t noticed or maybe they don’t dare to find out who I am, to show me that I care,” she wrote in the poem that she entitled A Simple Smile-A Scream Inside.

Sandy Bay is one of eight communities that makes up the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. Outgoing Peter Ballantyne Chief Harold Linklater said the community has been rallying to find ways to address the problem of suicide.

“I believe the community is working towards solutions,” said Harold Linklater. “I know there are still issues and challenges that they have to deal with and overcome, but for the most part, I believe that they’re working in co-operation.”

Harold Linklater believes the main issue that needs to be addressed in order to quell the suicide crisis in his community is ensuring more attention is paid to the youth of Sandy Bay.

“I think the youth are not being listened to. We’re not paying attention,” he said. “Us parents, and I’ll include myself, we’re not paying enough attention, we’re not caring enough for our youth and so they’re feeling left out and they probably feel that people don’t care. And that’s combined, of course, with the alcohol and drugs that are going on.”

Harold Linklater agrees that these are definitely desperate times for Sandy Bay, but that the community has been pushed into action to tackle the issues surrounding the recent suicides.

“The community has more or less told me that this is what we’re going to do, we are going to tackle the issue ourselves and the community together,” said Harold Linklater.

“The last time I spoke with the councillors (two of whom are from Sandy Bay) they said that they were going to get a community action committee in place to tackle these issues.”

According to Harold Linklater, the community has already begun a number of activities for youth.

“They’ve started community healing and youth healing initiatives, which involves working with Elders,” he said.
Efforts have also been undertaken to help those impacted by the suicides.

Harold Linklater told Windspeaker he brought in a professional counsellor for the family of the 15-year-old girl.

“It’s dramatic and very emotional for families to deal with suicides,” he said.

According to information from the Public Health Agency of Canada Web site, there are many issues such as depression, substance abuse and low self-esteems that contribute to suicides.

Some of the signs a person can look for that might indicate someone is thinking about suicide are depression, overeating or having no appetite, changes in sleep patterns, or changes in behaviours, such as giving away their belongings and saying things like “I wish I were dead” or “Life is hopeless.”

Harold Linklater believes that if the youth just open up and confide in someone about the way they’re feeling, then those issues could be addressed.

“I’ve really stressed the fact at many youth conferences that, if youth have problems they should be talking to people and they shouldn’t try to deal with these issues on their own,” he said. “If they have these issues of thinking about suicide, they shouldn’t be ashamed.”

Harold Linklater attended a youth conference held in March in Pelican Narrows, another of the member community’s of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. He was there to address the issue of suicide and to find out from the youth what they want to see happen in their community.

“I’ve stated to them that if you need or want to see something in the community, you talk to me, you tell me, because I don’t exactly know what you want. I think I may know what you want, but I would like you to tell me so we can work towards those kinds of aspirations from our youth,” he said.

He’d like to see the youth more empowered and more involved in coming up with solutions for the problems they encounter, “what they think is going to be an answer to their dilemma.”

Aboriginal communities and organizations aren’t alone in recognizing that something needs to be done to address the high suicide rates among Aboriginal people.
Government, too, has begun to jump into the void by funding projects to tackle the problem.

British Columbia’s Ministry of Children and Family Development is the latest to step up and contribute. On April 12, the department announced it would be providing funding for the White Buffalo Aboriginal Heath Society (WBAHS), an organization based in Kamloops that works to help Aboriginal people achieve balanced and healthy lifestyles. The $70,000 the society will receive will be used to establish an Aboriginal Suicide Critical Incident Response Team (ASCIRT) to serve Aboriginal communities throughout the province.

“The overall objective in the ASCIRT program is to work with Aboriginal communities to establish community response teams that would address the issue of suicide,” said Deb Canada, WBAHS executive director. “So it’s about putting training in communities and establishing teams.”

The WBAHS conducted a small survey within the Kamloops community to determine if this type of training was needed. The community responded by saying yes, suicide is an issue in the community and, yes, training is needed, Deb Canada said.

The ASCIRT will deal with the issues of suicide and as well as loss and grief.

“The ASCIRT program is going to be a place for people to go when they are feeling desperation around suicide or feeling that they need support and the response team members are going to be trained people that will provide access to prevention and early prevention programs that are culturally relevant,” she said.

Canada’s thoughts on the root causes of high suicide rates among Aboriginal people closely mirror those of both Joe Linklater and Harold Linklater—when young people don’t have a strong sense of self, don’t feel valued and don’t feel they belong, they are more likely to head down a self-destructive path. Her organization, which tries to provide support and activities for young people, is working to address the problem.

“I think part of it for the young Aboriginal people is that we struggle with this whole thing around self-esteem and self-worth and being proud of who we are. We go out into the world and we’re not seen in a good way for young people. Part of that whole coping strategy is meth and drinking and it just gets into a real awful cycle, and pretty soon there’s just a loss of the desire to carry on.”

If you are having thoughts of suicide or suspect someone you know is contemplating ending their life, there are a number of organizations that can help you find counselling and support.

Check your local phone directory for listings of local crisis centres or visit the Centre for Suicide Prevention's listing of crisis centres and online counselling Web sites at www.suicideinfo.ca.

A list of support services is also available on the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention Web site  (www.suicideprevention.ca) and a  list of resources dealing with suicide can be found on Canada Health Portal Web site. Just go to www.chp-pcs.gc.ca and select the Aboriginal peoples link on the left-hand side of the screen.