Suicide crisis prompts remote First Nation to declare state of emergency

OTTAWA – The remote northern Ontario community of Neskantaga is declaring a state of emergency because of a suicide crisis.

The First Nation northeast of Thunder Bay has seen two of its members take their own lives over the past two weeks, throwing the fragile community of 300 into grief and fear for the stability of other families.

Chief Peter Moonias says that just as the community was burying the first victim — a man in his 30s — they heard about the death of a 19-year-old man.

The problems come just months after another young man killed himself in December, a tragedy that prompted the community to close ranks and put young people on suicide watch to prevent copycat deaths.

Community and regional leaders decided to declare the state of emergency on Wednesday in order to mobilize help from the Red Cross and the Ontario government’s emergency management office.

The suicide rate in Neskantaga and surrounding First Nations is far higher than the national average, as communities struggle to deal with isolation, drug and alcohol addictions, poverty, poor housing and a loss of cultural identity.