Canadian government to invest $2.5M in First Nations youth wellness programs

On Thursday, the Canadian government announced funding to address the suicide crises that many Saskatchewan First Nations communities are currently facing.

Federal Minister of Indigenous Services Marc Miller was in Saskatoon for the announcement of the Youth Empowerment, Healing and Wellness Investment.

It will put $2.5 million over two years towards community-driven suicide prevention strategies and programs for First Nations communities.

“Everyone has heard the statistics that suicide rates among First Nations people are three times higher than among non-Indigenous Canadians. And behind every statistic is a person, a face, often very young that is gone too soon,” said Miller.

“The (federal) government will provide $2.5 million to the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), to develop an evidence-based suicide prevention strategy and to launch a communities initiatives grant program.”

He said the grant program will help support the development of services and activities in individual communities that promote the empowerment of youth.

Fond du Lac Chief Louis Mercredi was one of many Saskatchewan Indigenous leaders in attendance for the announcement.

His community is affected by the recent suicides.

“We have a major crisis. We are losing so many of our young people. We are so adapted to it now, we are so, so familiar with this thing, how to deal with it. We should not have this experience,” said Mercredi.

He does not believe the $2.5 million is enough.

“I think the province should match this $2.5 million as well. There should be no dollar figure on human lives,” he said. “We are tired of band-aid solutions for our people. We need long-term solutions. We need continuous funding for our people.”

Three weeks ago, Makwa Sahgaiehcan Chief Ronald Mitsuing was at an FSIN press conference to call on the government to help support his community following multiple suicides and attempts in less than a month.

He was at Thursday’s announcement and said this investment is a good start but more still needs to be done.

“What I’ve seen so far is the province and the federal government coming together; that’s something we needed. It’s not really money we are after. We need people to come train our people so we can take care of ourselves,” he said.

“It’s a good start, and I believe helping families get back to being families is the main focus. We have a lot of youth out there that are troubled and I don’t know the signs.”

FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron acknowledged this investment is just the start of what is needed to properly and continuously address this crisis.

“We are in the business to save lives. We are in the business to bring opportunities to secure that our children have the best quality of life,” he said.

“This investment has been a long time coming. We want to say and also remind every one of our 74 bands that this is a great start, and we are going to continue to do the good work for our youth.”