The rural town where 100 young people have tried to commit suicide since September
Last October a 13-year-old girl hanged herself – and since then more than 100 of Attawapiskat's 2,000 First Nation people, most of them teenagers, have also tried to kill themselves
A SMALL town in Ontario, Canada is suffering an epidemic of suicide attempts amongst its young people.
Attawapiskat is a hard to reach Aboriginal settlement south of Hudson Bay, and while it doesn’t seem the sort of place to attract media attention, it’s been making headlines over the past year for a terrible reason.
Last October a 13-year-old girl, Sheridan Hookimaw, went down to the rubbish dump and hanged herself – and since then more than 100 of Attawapiskat's 2,000 First Nation people, most of them teenagers, have also attempted suicide.
19-year-old Skylar Hookimaw, Sheridan’s older brother said of his sister’s tragic death: "It still doesn't feel real, like it didn't happen, but it did.”
He told the that "family problems, bullying, drugs, alcohol” impacted on the Aboriginal community’s high suicide rate, adding: "Kids feel like they've been left alone, like they don't matter."
In April alone, 11 youngsters tried to kill themselves over the course of just one weekend – a grim statistic for any community, let alone one so small.
After this terrible weekend, the Canadian First Nations community of Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency, but the crisis has since deepened – as young people continue trying to end their lives.
A leading local MP, Charlie Angus, labelled the crisis "a spiralling situation that is taking us into unknown territory".
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Although the surge amid the young people of Attawapiskat is alarming, suicide attempts amongst the First Nations communities throughout Canada have experienced high rates of suicide, during long-standing social problems including poverty, family violence, educational failures and substance abuse.
Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, now claims that is on its way and has promised a fresh start in Canada's relationship with its 1.4 million Aboriginal peoples.
He has pledged more money for their communities and wants to add a new focus on education and mental health in First Nation reserves, such as Attawapiskat.
He's also launched an inquiry into the outrageously disproportionate levels of violence against First Nation women.
Shockingly, over the past 30 years more than 4,000 indigenous women have gone missing or been murdered – with the justice system often seen as failing them.
The youngest Attawapiskat community member to attempt suicide was only 11 years old - while the oldest was 71.
Bruce Shisheesh, the chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation community said: “We’re in crisis mode. Just about every night, there is a suicide attempt.”
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