Chelsea Jane Edwards was deeply saddened when she heard her remote northern Ontario First Nation of Attawapiskat had declared a state of emergency over a recent spate of suicide attempts.
But she wasn’t surprised. “It’s not surprising at all; it’s devastating,” the 20-year-old said of the news that has put Attawapiskat in the national spotlight this week.
Edwards, who is studying policing in New Brunswick, knows first-hand how hard life can be in the James Bay community of about 2,000, particularly for young people.
“When you’ve been living your entire life in poverty it comes with many issues. They will range from mental health, to inadequate housing, to not having enough to eat because you have to share the food with everyone in the household,” she said. “I just feel like the action was long overdue.”
Health Minister Jane Philpott said Monday, April 2, that five mental health workers had arrived in the community to address what she called “one of the most serious and pressing tragedies that our nation is facing.”
On Tuesday night, an emergency debate on the suicide crisis in Attawapiskat and other First Nations communities was held by parliamentarians.
The state of emergency was declared by Attawapiskat’s chief and council on Saturday evening after the community’s 11th suicide attempt in the month of April and 28 suicide attempts in March.
For Edwards, the community’s plea for extra resources to deal with the situation was one she understood.
“The services provided are really inadequate and under-funded,” she said. “I was depressed every time I would go back. I had a hard time readjusting coming from off the reserve to back on the reserve.”
