Suicide Among Aboriginal People In Canada

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples held 172 days of public hearings in 96 communities across Canada to study the problem of suicide among native peoples. This report presents the findings of the Commissioners and recommendations for reducing the incidence and effects of such suicides. The report discusses the seriousness of the Aboriginal suicide problem; the factors that influence the rate of Aboriginal suicides; the similarities and differences between Aboriginal suicides and suicides among all people in general; the characteristics of the Aboriginals with the highest risk of suicide; existing and possible future suicide prevention programs, including Aboriginal self-healing programs; and key elements of successful community plans for suicide prevention.

?This report sets out what Commissioners have learned about suicide among Aboriginal people and how we think its incidence and effects can be reduced. In the report we discuss: how suicide among Aboriginal people is similar to suicide among all people, and how it is different; who is most at risk and why; what is already being done to help, and what more could be done; key elements in the strategies that work; and recommendations for immediate and long-term reduction of the problem. The report depends as much on the views and life stories of Aboriginal people as on the insights of research to arrive at an understanding of the problem of suicide and its solutions. Inevitably, some of the stories are grim. But most are full of hope, pointing the way forward. Our purposes in publishing this report are, first, to increase the understanding of Canadians in general; second, to share the ideas for change we have heard from Aboriginal communities; and third, to make recommendations to all responsible authorities for action to alleviate an intolerable situation?--Contents, p. 4.

This manual was written to complement and guide the ongoing efforts of groups and individuals interested in developing and implementing suicide prevention programs for Canada's Aboriginal youth. A number of prevention strategies that follow the best evidence about what works and what should be done are provided.

Winner, 2024 Blue Metropolis First Peoples Prize, for the whole of her work Finalist, 2018 Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding Finalist, 2018 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Tanya Talaga, the bestselling author of Seven Fallen Feathers, calls attention to an urgent global humanitarian crisis among Indigenous Peoples — youth suicide. “Talaga’s research is meticulous and her journalistic style is crisp and uncompromising. She brings each story to life, skillfully weaving the stories of the youths’ lives, deaths, and families together with sharp analysis... The book is heartbreaking and infuriating, both an important testament to the need for change and a call to action.” — Publishers Weekly *Starred Review* “Talaga has crafted an urgent and unshakable portrait of the horrors faced by Indigenous teens going to school in Thunder Bay, Ontario... Talaga’s incisive research and breathtaking storytelling could bring this community one step closer to the healing it deserves.” — Booklist *Starred Review* In this urgent and incisive work, bestselling and award-winning author Tanya Talaga explores the alarming rise of youth suicide in Indigenous communities in Canada and beyond. From Northern Ontario to Nunavut, Norway, Brazil, Australia, and the United States, the Indigenous experience in colonized nations is startlingly similar and deeply disturbing. It is an experience marked by the violent separation of Peoples from the land, the separation of families, and the separation of individuals from traditional ways of life — all of which has culminated in a spiritual separation that has had an enduring impact on generations of Indigenous children. As a result of this colonial legacy, too many communities today lack access to the basic determinants of health — income, employment, education, a safe environment, health services — leading to a mental health and youth suicide crisis on a global scale. But, Talaga reminds us, First Peoples also share a history of resistance, resilience, and civil rights activism. Based on her Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy series, All Our Relations is a powerful call for action, justice, and a better, more equitable world for all Indigenous Peoples.

Aboriginal peoples in Canada have diverse cultures but share common social and political challenges that have contributed to their experiences of health and illness. This collection addresses the origins of mental health and social problems and the emergence of culturally responsive approaches to services and health promotion. Healing Traditions is not a handbook of practice but a resource for thinking critically about current issues in the mental health of indigenous peoples. Cross-cutting themes include: the impact of colonialism, sedentarization, and forced assimilation; the importance of land for indigenous identity and an ecocentric self; and processes of healing and spirituality as sources of resilience.

Benjamin Chee Chee lived with anger and frustration for more than thirty years before he took his own life. An Ojibway artist who killed himself just as he was beginning to gain international recognition, Chee Chee is one of the thousands of aboriginal peoples in Canada who have commited suicide. Noted suicidologist and former RCMP officer Al Evans explores Chee Chee's wild, reckless, creative life to reveal how the clash between Native and White society has affected the suicide rate of young Native men and women, now among the highest in the world. Using his in-depth understanding of Native self-destructive behaviour and information from interviews with Chee Chee's mother, close friends, and fellow artists, Evans shows that understanding Benjamin's suicide requires moving beyond psychological analysis to include the damage that contact with White society has caused Native culture, heritage, status, and meaning of life. Evans argues that White society needs to understand these dynamics to be involved in the healing process of Aboriginal peoples in Canada - or to at least avoid hindering their recovery.