The landscape in the Lac La Ronge Indian Band area. Photo by Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, courtesy Facebook.
Northern Saskatchewan is using resources offered from all over Canada in order to lose no more young girls to suicide in what Lac La Ronge Chief Tammy Cook-Searson is calling a “youth crisis.”
Six young girls between the ages of 10 and 14 have committed suicide in northern Saskatchewan in recent weeks. The most recent came just a few days ago when a 13-year-old Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) member died.
Cook-Searson offers her condolences to all families who have lost loved ones.
“This has been very devastating to the families, to the community, and it’s impacted everyone with the youth crisis we are in with our young girls that are taking their lives,” she said.
The wording of “crisis” is distinct from the word “emergency,” and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) reiterated in a Tuesday news release that it has not received direction from a First Nation community to support a call for a state of emergency.
Youth suicide is a borderless issue in northern Saskatchewan, Cook-Searson said.
“We’re concerned about all the youth in our communities so we want to make sure we’re working together to collaborate our resources to see how we can best support our young people.”
She said all six LLRIB communities are able to reach out for supports through a regional emergency operations command centre (EOCC) that’s been in place in La Ronge since last week.
The list of agencies involved in daily meetings is vast: LLRIB portfolios like Indian Child and Family Services and Education; federal and provincial departments; First Nations organizations like the Assembly of First Nations and FSIN; and regional health authorities.
Chief Cook-Searson said they want to reach out and directly speak with youths about solutions.
“We want them to tell us how we can help them and we need them to tell us how we can help them. We will be holding these meetings to engage them to hear ideas on how to address the crisis we are in,” she said.
NORTEP-NORPAC student association president Amie Bell is skeptical of the outside help, saying at the end of the day solutions will need to come from inside the community.
“Yes, the government is bringing in mental health people for the youth to speak to but that’s just a temporary fix,” Bell said.
“They are just shoving people in our communities and saying ‘here talk to them.’ And they may not necessarily understand the situation because we need the northerners to talk to, we need people to understand where our youth are coming from.”
A number of upcoming meetings for community members are planned in LLRIB communities, from a parent support group and parenting workshops.
Chief Cook-Searso said community members can voice health concerns in an upcoming annual general meeting in La Ronge next Wednesday.
Suicide has long been more prevalent in the north than the rest of the province.
However, community members like Bell are shaken by the frequency of these deaths, and the fact that all six in the north in the past few weeks have been of girls between the ages of 10 and 14.
Last week, the FSIN Executive says it received direction from Chiefs-in-Assembly to organize a youth suicide prevention gathering to develop a comprehensive First Nation driven response to the continued trauma faced by the communities.
The FSIN says the initial steps to plan this event have begun.