Ontario Providing Nearly $2 Million to Help First Nation With Suicide Crisis

— -- An ongoing suicide crisis in the Attawapiskat First Nation has led Canadian leaders to pledge nearly $2 million to aid to help the embattled community. The announcement comes after dozens of people in the community have attempted suicide in recent months.

"We traveled to Attawapiskat to speak directly with the community and their leadership," Dr. Eric Hoskins, Ontario’s minister of health and long-term care, and Tracy MacCharles, Ontario’s minister of children and youth services, said in a joint statement yesterday. "We heard from them how we can work together on short, medium and long-term solutions to address the serious challenges facing this community and their youth."

The Ontario government said it will give $2 million in Canadian dollars to a youth regional coordination unit so that emergency health care personnel and support staff can be brought in to help the community. There have been 101 suicide attempts in the small community since September 2015, including 11 last Saturday, which led Attawapiskat Chief Bruce Shisheesh to declare a state of emergency.

"We have been working around-the-clock over the past few days to do everything we can to make sure that the people of Attawapiskat have the supports they need. We will redouble our efforts to help chief and council deal with the terrible situation," Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said in a statement Monday. "The numbers of suicide attempts experienced by this community are shocking and nothing short of a national tragedy."

The Ontario government pledged to hire four psychological health workers and up to five nurses and two security staff to provide mental health support to the Aboriginal community 24 hours a day.

"This is a very tragic situation and our hearts go out to the people and families affected. Ontario is strongly committed to working together with the Attawapiskat community and with First Nations in Ontario alongside our federal partners," Hoskins and MacCharles said in the statement announcing the aid.

The risk of suicide has long been an ongoing problem, according to the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), which includes the Attawapiskat. There have been at least two other states of emergency declared by NAN -- in 1992 and 2013. A 1996 Canadian government report on suicide in aboriginal communities found four key contributors for the increased risk: mental illness, anxiety, schizophrenia and unresolved grief.

A January report by the Mushkegowuk Council, which is also part of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, reviewed a period from 2009 to 2011 when an estimated 600 Mushkegowuk people attempted suicide.

The report found 16 unresolved issues that may have contributed to the suicide attempts, including violence, bullying, education issues, housing issues, health issues, sexual abuse and substance abuse.