Published by The Toronto Star

www.parentcentral.ca/parent/newsfeatures/article/753721--help-on-way-for-natives-coping-with-teen-suicide

The Ontario government is freeing up $470,000 in emergency funds to bring four trained suicide prevention workers to the remote James Bay area as aboriginal communities there struggle to cope under a wave of teen suicides.

Last month, a Star investigation revealed that, in 2009, 13 teens took their own lives in the isolated towns dotting the James Bay basin. All 13 hanged themselves. Another 80 have tried to take their own lives.

The announcement comes days before the Jan. 24 first anniversary of Thomas Trapper's death.

Trapper, a 17-year-old boy who loved hockey and his friends, hanged himself in his bedroom. His mother, Nellie, found him when she returned home from work. His death was the first last year in what child protection workers say is an "epidemic" of teen suicides in northeastern Ontario.

The one lifeline for these lost youth, the Payukotayno children's aid society, has struggled to provide services while battling the province over its crippling financial woes.

The agency almost shut down in December when it ran out of money because of what officials said was the high cost of providing child protection services in the north. In emergencies, the agency has to spend $400 a minute to charter a plane to reach a child in a fly-in community such as Attawapiskat.

Ernest Beck, executive director of Payukotayno James and Hudson Bay Family Services, praised Children and Youth Services Minister Laurel Broten and the media for helping to bring some hope to the impoverished area.

"This will help us begin to address the problem of suicide," Beck said in an interview. "We had such difficulty initially, trying to get movement on this thing, to the point of frustration."

The $470,000 will come out of the ministry's extraordinary circumstances fund, said Paris Meilleur, Broten's press secretary. "This is an important step we can take to support these families and communities," Meilleur said Wednesday.

Beck first asked the ministry for money to train four suicide intervention workers last year. Based in Moosonee, Ont., Payukotayno is a First Nations agency that serves seven communities with a combined population of 13,500. The furthest reserve from Moosonee is 500 kilometres away and only accessible by air.

"We made a submission for $470,000 and that got approved. It sounds like a lot, but, in reality, it's not a hell of a lot," said Beck, a former Mushkegowuk grand chief.

Beck's submission called for four 12-month positions to address the communities' immediate crises.

However, there are historic funding inequities in the north that have never been addressed, Beck said. He was referring to an independent review done on behalf of the government in 2006. The review showed Payukotayno and Tikinagan children and family services, two agencies located above 50 degrees latitude, require a $24.6 million baseline funding increase to give northern children the same level of care Crown wards in the south receive. "They have not addressed this," he said.

In late December, Payukotayno almost shut its doors. It was $2.3 million in debt and could not meet payroll. Broten, who has steadfastly told all provincial children's aid societies there is no more money to top up their budgets as Ontario struggles with a $24.7 billion deficit, was forced to come to the agency's help. A specially appointed provincial committee is trying to address why 49 of Ontario's 53 agency's face a $67 million shortfall.

Moosonee is a tight-knit town found on the shore of the Moose River. Most who live there are Cree, and have deep roots in the community. When a child dies, everyone feels it, including staff at Payukotayno. Nellie Trapper is a child protection worker at the agency who counsels children at a group home.

While those familiar with the despair felt in First Nations communities praised the government for this move, they also pointed out that this is a Band-Aid solution for a far greater problem.

"Is it going to help?" asked NDP MPP Gilles Bisson (Timmins James Bay) "The short answer is yes. Will it solve the problem? No."

Suicide intervention counsellors could save lives by identifying those most at risk, Bisson said, but the question remains: Why do so many First Nations youths want to commit suicide? Bisson points to near Third World conditions on some reserves, including inadequate housing, high unemployment and prohibitive grocery prices.