A state of emergency is being contemplated on the Waterhen Lake First Nation.
Council will discuss the situation with mental health staff Wednesday.
This comes after a 14-year-old girl recently took her own life and ten others attempted suicide in the past three weeks.
Councillor Dustin Ross Fiddler said COVID-19 has exasperated mental health concerns by northern travel restrictions.
He said it’s not an ideal time for a lockdown.
“Social isolation and social distancing, we know that this will be going on for a while. The question is going to shift to be: are we losing people to COVID, or are we going to be losing people to suicide and mental health issues,” asked Ross Fiddler.
“Over this time in the lockdown for our community and in the North, we’ve seen a rise almost exponentially in suicide attempts on our reserve from people of all different age groups. Obviously we had someone commit suicide, a young lady.”
Ross Fiddler said it would be great for his community and all others in the North to have dedicated mental health staff who go to each municipality or commit mental health workers in each community.
He said he has spoken with Chief Ronald Mitsuing of the Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation about how its state of emergency, which was declared last fall, after three people took their lives and nine others attempted suicide.
In response, the province increased mental health supports and assessed each youth in that community. “It’s getting to the point now where it’s how many suicides or attempts do we declare that [state of emergency],” Ross Fiddler stated.
(Photo: Overlooking Waterhen Lake First Nation. Courtesy of Facebook.)