Over the course of six hours on Wednesday evening, parliamentarians spoke about the crisis in Attawapiskat.
Desnethe-Missinippi Churchill River MP Georgina Jolibois was the second to speak.
She shared her experience with the sense of hopelessness and despair that prevails among youth in the northern Ontario reserve, saying she sees it in suicide attempts in her home community of La Loche.
“Suicide affects not only me and my family – my brother has had a challenge of losing three of his own children to suicide in the past eight years – and over the years I’ve seen how both levels of government fail communities like La Loche by not providing services in mental health and other programs. So this is a very sensitive and touching issue,” Jolibois said.
She spent a long time relating the situation that’s happening in Attawapiskat, to the crisis she sees at home in La Loche.
Before even finishing her speech, Jolibois got a standing ovation after the following statement:
“Cindy Blackstock has a dream for Canada’s birthday – a country where First Nations children no longer have to fight for equality. I share her dream, but we can’t wait until next year. We need to fight for them now. We can’t lose any more children.”
As the MP representing La Loche and northern Saskatchewan, Jolibois said she knows all too well how easy it is for the government to give lip service to a crisis without delivering solutions.
Jolibois reflected back on her time in Ottawa after the January 22 shooting in la Loche, when she stood in parliament and requested additional services for La Loche from both levels of government.
“Unfortunately it is sad to say the help has not come,” she said.
“Communities like La Loche, Attawapiskat, Cross Lake, and other communities straight across Canada need help, not band aid solutions. It’s nice to get visits but that isn’t good enough. We need concrete help and we need more funding to assist our communities across Canada to make sure that we in our communities are helping our young people and our families to deal with the problems at hand.”
As many have in the days after Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency, Jolibois talked about the need for hope.
“The First Nations and Metis children are looking for us to give them hope, are looking for Canadian government to give them hope, and for industry, from service providers and for all levels of people to give hope,” she said.
During the debate, Jolibois fielded a question from a fellow MP about what they can do to help.
Jolibois spoke of the importance of cultural equality and mental health services in communities like Attawapiskat, and La Loche.