Suicide in Canadian First Nations

Suicide attempts are highest among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) females, followed by AI/AN males, and are lowest among African American and White adolescent males. Due to shame and the value placed on not looking weak in the African American community, some youth use less taboo ways of ending their lives. Wolfgang (1959) stated that, “victim-precipitated suicide is disproportionately represented among African American males.” For example, “In studies of officer-involved shootings, there appears to be evidence of suicidal intent in between 10% and 46% of cases” (Klinger, 2001). Therefore, due to cultural beliefs within the African American community, sometimes African Americans use victim-precipitated suicide as a more conventional way of ending their lives. The American Indian/Alaska Native group has also been

Secondly, the federal government of Canada funding towards suicide prevention programs in Aboriginal communities helps stop youth suicide. First Nation youths are 5 to 6 times more likely to commit suicide compared to non-aboriginal youths (Kassam, 2017). A community-based suicide prevention program is a key to helping stop the aboriginal youth suicide crisis. For instance, another northern Ontario First Nation community, Wapekeka, was a leader in suicide prevention (Kassam, 2017). Wapekeka First Nation’s suicide prevention program was working until the federal government cut funding towards the program and the spokesperson for Wapekeka First Nation, Joshua Frogg said, “twenty-two years we ran it until it drove us into a deficit. We couldn’t do it anymore.” (Kassam, 2017).

Since December of 2015, there has been an alarming rate of suicides to occur in Manitoba, Canada on the Cross Lake First Nation Indian Reserve. Since then six students have committed suicide while ten others have attempted it. Most of the people who have attempted suicide are ninth and tenth graders of that school and are currently on a suicide prevention list. The chief of the small community of only six thousand eight hundred individuals is calling a state of emergency. Shirley Robinson who is the chief told CNN, “There's so much hurt, there's so much pain. You can feel it in every direction of our nation. Only last year there was one suicide while in some of the recent past years there had been no suicides. The community said it is difficult

Aboriginal people represent less than 3% of the total population in BC. Yet, they account for more than 9% of all suicides in BC (Chandler). The numbers of suicides amongst aboriginal youth are even more alarming – nearly one-fourth of all youth suicides in BC are committed by aboriginals and more than half of all aboriginal suicides are committed by youth (Chandler). The fact that indigenous communities in Canada have the highest rate of suicide of any culturally identifiable group in the world implies that these alarming statistics may not solely be a result of aboriginal communities belonging to a minority cultural group. I will attempt to build a speculative hypothesis behind the significantly high suicide rates amongst aboriginal

While the Native American population encounters many health disparities; of growing concern, is the rates of suicide among these communities. The U.S. National Library of Medicine defines health disparities as “the variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between socioeconomic and /or geographically defined population groups”. When looking at the Native American population of the northeastern United States, there are many factors that contribute to these alarming numbers. These include gun availability, rural locations of communities and reservations, privacy of Native people, distrust of outside help, alcoholism, depression, lack of resources, and acculturation stress. Many of these factors are a way of life for the Native American population. Guns are in most homes and used for hunting and sport. The rural locations are a way of being surrounded by all that is living and therefore, well-being of the people. Alcohol abuse is a learned and shared behavior among many families and throughout the generations. The high rates of depression are often self- medicated and contribute to the substance abuse issues already abundant within the community. It is a difficult situation to realize the very culture of a people may be the conduit to the problems they encounter. This can make the health care provider’s jobs even more difficult. As Paquin (2011) explained, “When nurses focus

Seeing that youth suicide rates amongst Aboriginal youth are five to seven times higher than non-Aboriginal youth, and Inuit youth are among the highest in the world, at 11 times the national average, there are several contributing attributes that should be further researched. (Health Canada, 2013) One of the contributing factors that are discussed in many Aboriginal courses is that of identity. Aboriginal youth who face high levels of intergenerational trauma due to the RS system often find themselves distanced from Aboriginal culture, without their mother tongue, and western culture. This alongside the negative portrayals of Indigenous peoples within media many times go much deeper to factors beyond an individual 's control and end up as a common root cause of suicide. One way for the federal government can combat this particular factor is through the emplacement of acknowledgment initiatives. Trying to reduce negative stigmas and stereotypes as well, to educate, can help promote healthy self-esteem and confidence levels within Aboriginal youth and result in the prevention of high suicide levels amongst Aboriginal youth. (CITE)

As a country Canada prides itself on Universal health care for everyone equally (Macqueen, 2011). However, there are many discrepancies seen in the health care that Aboriginals and non-aboriginal Canadians receive (Weeks, 2013). As a result, Aboriginals health is deteriorating in nearly every aspect on a much larger scale than the rest of the Canadian population (Weeks, 2013). As reported in the article Aboriginal seniors face more challenges staying healthy, accessing care: report from “The Globe and Mail” aboriginal seniors are struggling accessing health care and staying healthy (Ubelaker, 2013). Aboriginals are much more susceptible to health issues such as chronic diseases, disabilities and infections and are having to travel unethical distances in order to access health centres (Weeks, 2013).

The difference in suicide rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians exists because of the stereotypical treatment towards aboriginals. Since the early ages of the British settlements Aboriginals have been enslaved and treated as the lower class. This has changed as there is no more slavery however the non-indigenous attitudes towards the indigenous is still bad and this can lead to depression and then suicide

As health professionals, we must look beyond individual attributes of Indigenous Australians to gain a greater understanding and a possible explanation of why there are such high rates of ill health issues such as alcoholism, depression, abuse, shorter life expectancy and higher prevalence of diseases including diabetes, heart disease and obesity in our indigenous population. Looking at just the individual aspects and the biomedical health model, we don’t get the context of Aboriginal health. This is why we need to explore in further detail what events could have created such inequities in Aboriginal health. Other details that we should consider are the historical and cultural factors such as, ‘terra nullius’, dispossession and social

The findings of this study indicated that professionals working with Aboriginal children and adolescents need to be conscious of the importance of family and identity. Furthermore, it is critical that improvements are made to accessibility of mental health services for Aboriginal children, adolescents and their families as well as a more holistic approach being taken towards addressing mental health needs.

Canada’s Aboriginal population plays a significant role in our country’s history, so it is understandably devastating for any harm to befall such an integral portion of our population. As it stands, there has been a statistically significant increase in violent crimes committed against Aboriginal people over the past few decades (Walkom, 2017). More specifically, Indigenous women and girls go missing from their homes or are the victims of homicide at a much higher rate than the rest of the population.

In 1996, a Canadian Royal Commission 
on Aboriginal People, which found that
 “[r]epeated assaults on the culture and collective identity of aboriginal people have weakened the foundations of aboriginal society and contributed to the alienation 
that drives some to self-destruction and anti- social behaviour” (Indigenous). Many researchers have found that, compared to non-Aboriginals, Aboriginals are more likely to live in poverty and substandard housing; have lower levels of educational achievement; have poorer health, including much higher rates of diabetes, HIV/ AIDS and tuberculosis; have higher rates of alcohol and drug dependency; suffer higher rates of victimization by crime, particularly relationship violence; have higher youth suicide

The act of committing suicide in Inuit communities has changed drastically. Previously, an ill or elder person would take their lives. This would be considered dying with “ancient dignity” as a response to the burden they may put on their families (Kral, 2013). There were very few recorded suicides amongst Inuit youth before the 1980’s (Working Group, 2009). The figures began to rise in the

The article by Chandler and Lalonde (1998) examines both cultural continuity and self-continuity as protective factors against youth suicide in First Nations communities. The risk of suicide in First Nations youth is associated with the ways in which youth can construct and defend a sense of identity despite individual and cultural change. Chandler and Lanlonde (1998) theorize that when a person's identity is undermined by personal or cultural change that they are put at risk of suicide as they lose future commitments that are needed to guarantee concern for their own well-being. This risk is increased among First Nations youth in communities that lack a sense of cultural continuity which is essential in helping young people to develop a sense

In particular, the incidence of anxiety, depression, and attempted suicide cases are greater in the Indigenous population (Beyondblue, 2016). Figures from Beyond Blue 2016 state that just over one third of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over reported personal racial mistreatment within the last 12 months, because they were of their origins (Beyondblue, 2016).