Regional leader seeks answers to battle suicide

It was time immediate action take place to deal with the suicide crisis sweeping Mushkegowuk territory said Stan Louttit, grand chief of Mushkegowuk Council.
Within the Mushkegowuk territory, the population is about 10,000 people and the youth make up anywhere from 50 to 60 percent of that population.
Statistics provided by Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) verify that the greatest percentage of attempted and completed suicides occur in the 15 to 24 years age bracket.
In the past 16 months, there have been 13 suicides in the Mushkegowuk territory, an area representing Attawapiskat, Moose Cree, Taykwa Tagamou, Missanabie Cree, Chapleau Cree, Kashechewan and Fort Albany.
Louttit worked with deputy chief Leo Friday to initiate the emergency summit on suicide held in Moose Factory May 11 and 12.
“We finally came to the realization in the past few months that there needed to be some immediate action taken as leaders of the communities.”
Louttit and his peers saw the need for leaders to gather on a regional level to bring together community members, Elders, youth and frontline workers to deal with the suicide crisis.
From the dialogue at the summit, Louttit was able to learn the causes of why youth are not reaching out for help.
“Sometimes they feel they don’t have a voice, are intimidated, are shy, or they feel they are isolated.
“We need to hear them, and they need to step forward within their own peer groups, within their own youth councils, and within their own gatherings. I think there is lots of things we can do.”
Louttit stressed that sometimes there may be too much reliance on other people and funding agencies or government to help out. He notes that there are effective measures that communities can immediately implement that cost little or nothing at all.
“Individual communities can having gatherings. They can have forums with Elders, forums with youth, and forums with families in their own community. They can gather to talk about this. It doesn’t cost much to do that kind of thing.”
Another readily available solution is for the service agencies that are working within the region to work in collaboration with one another.
“We have three or four different service agencies that work in isolation of one another. All these service organizations, they need to bring an ad hoc committee together to determine how they can work with the people in their communities. Leadership needs to be taken, and people need to step up to the plate.”
Louttit also encourages the youth to speak out.
“We want to hear from you. I think it is incumbent on each and every youth within the NAN territory, within the Mushkegowuk Territory, we need to hear it when they need to tell us something, otherwise we won’t know,” he said, encouraging the use of any means necessary through modern technology to tell a friend.