All suicide needs attention

After the recent bombing attacks at the Boston marathon that injured many and killed three people, I noticed a lot of commentary via social media focusing on a particular topic regarding the tragedy.
While the incident itself was very terrifying and unbelievable, there were commentators out there who asked the questions “what about all of the bombings that occur on a daily basis in war-torn countries? Why aren’t you as shocked and appalled by those?”
This ignited debate between many social-media users on what was considered more shocking and harrowing: a bombing happening in a place like the United States of America where they hardly ever occur, or one of many bombings in a place like Syria for example where civil war has left thousands upon thousands dead.
Some commentators went as far as to say “bombings in third world countries are more common, so they’re not that surprising.”
When you read something like 63 dead after a bombing in Afghanistan, is it less deplorable than hearing of three Americans killed by homemade explosives in Boston?
The people who die in countries across the sea are still people – they are children, wives, sons, cousins, lovers, and friends whose deaths still have the same affect on their loved ones as any death here in North America would.
But why is there still desensitization towards their deaths?
Canada’s remote and isolated First Nations communities are often referred to as third-world countries with less than stellar living conditions and overwhelming poverty. You have to wonder what labels like that do to the psyche of the community members.
Recently, Neskantaga First Nation declared a state of emergency after experiencing seven suicides in ten months, two of which occurred within days of each other. The community is said to average about ten suicide attempts per month.
A story like this is not uncommon in First Nations communities across Canada. Yes, First Nations people have a higher rate of suicide in comparison to other ethnicities here. Things like hopelessness, depression, anguish, poverty, and substance abuse are all contributing factors to completed suicides, and there is a huge lack of resources available to the people in these communities.
The communities ask for help, but does help ever really come? After generations of high suicide rates across First Nations people, it is starting to seem like nothing is really being done to tackle and prevent the attempts or the deaths. Communities just do not have enough resources or funding to pay for suicide prevention methods.
Around the same time Neskantaga declared its state of emergency, a young Caucasian teenager from Nova Scotia took her life over a year after she was sexually assaulted and exploited by a number of her classmates at a party. She had experienced depression from bullying after the assault, and moved around a lot trying to find peace again but to no avail. Her father said he and his family did everything they could to save her but could only stand back to watch her die; even with the access to anti-suicide programs and mental health treatment programs some communities only dream of having available to them, this young girl wasn’t able to keep on living.
It was not long after her death that the Prime Minister of Canada had a “heartfelt meeting” with the young girl’s parents to discuss possible changes in legislation regarding bullying.
The young girl’s death caught the eye of the Prime Minister of Canada and he immediately swung into action and arranged a meeting with her family to address the issue of bullying and suicide. Now the federal government wants to expedite a review of “gaps” in the Criminal Code and introduce legislative reforms to address cyber-bullying,” according to news reports.
It makes me wonder how long it would take the PM to meet with the parents and families of every single First Nations person who committed suicide to discuss the issue and preventative measures to stop another loss of life.
It makes me wonder how much he values the lives of our Anishinabe people here in Canada in comparison to other citizens.
The lives of our youth, our people, are not worth less than anyone else. Our people’s lives matter. The loss of our people’s lives is not just another number to contribute to a high rate of suicide; suicide is not to be expected of us like the deaths from bombings in far away countries are sometimes referred to as “expected.” The suicides that have happened on reservations are just as shocking and dreadful and have devastating effects.
The loss of life to suicide in First Nations communities needs just as much attention as a non-First Nations suicide does, and even more assistance because of the lack of resources available to the people.
I hope one day our people will get the help they need, that a suitable and culturally appropriate way to deal with depression and suicide will arise and we will see the suicide rate of First Nations people decline.
Our lives are just as valuable as anyone else’s, and some people (namely the ones in power) need to be more aware of that.