Ron Michel alerts attendees at the PAGC assembly about a suicide that happened that day. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski
News of a further suicide in northern Saskatchewan rocked the hundreds of people at an annual assembly in Prince Albert on Tuesday afternoon.
Prince Albert Grand Council’s leader Ron Michel told the crowd a 10-year-old from Deschambault Lake had hung herself.
This comes on the heels of three suicides in Stanley Mission and La Ronge that happened before Thanksgiving.
Grand Chief Michel says he wants a roundtable with each of the 26 communities.
He said he wants communities to listen to their youth and create an action plan.
Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation Chief Peter Beatty’s home community is Deschambault Lake.
“It’s a real hard thing to deal with, especially when you’re dealing with people of that age. They have so much life to life and so much to look forward to,” Beatty said.
“I think that we have to come to terms with what’s happening in our Frist Nations communities, because a lot of things lead to that.”
He said word travels fast with social media, and that makes it important for crisis teams to immediately deploy to work with the peer groups of young people who die in these circumstances. He said those resources from PBCN are available at this time.
Newly elected PAGC Vice-Chief Christopher Jobb took time in his speech to address the news of the young girl’s death. He said he had to take a moment that afternoon with his wife to acknowledge what happened.