Beating the odds

“The children and youth of Pikangikum have been taking their lives at an extraordinary rate for a number of years,” reads the opening line of the summary of the Office of the Chief Coroner’s Death Review of the Youth Suicides at the Pikangikum First Nation.
The report also includes a list of striking characteristics that came out as a result of the review of the deaths from 2006-2008, and it is quite depressing.
“Suicides occurred largely in clusters; the youth were very young when they took their lives; none of the children had sought help from a trained professional; almost all of the children were solvent abusers; and school engagement and attendance appears to have been very limited,” were a few of the details.
One of the key drivers for youth suicide, according to the report, is lack of education opportunities. The report delves into the lack of education in Pikangikum since the school burnt down in 2007, and draws attention to the low numbers of high school graduates and post-secondary school students in the community.
But Cheryl Suggashie has gone against the trend. The mother of three from Pikangikum just graduated from Algoma University with a major in Law and Justice and a minor in Political Science.
As for her success, Suggashie attributes it to a few key factors: support from her family and the strength she found in her traditions and culture.
“What helped me was the traditional aspects of my culture,” Suggashie said of how she succeeded in reaching her educational goals. “Culture is a key thing. I just feel that there is hope. It’s hard but you can get through it.”
Pikangikum’s struggles with education have been well documented, and the chief coroner’s review draws a clear link between education and youth suicide.
“A cluster of deaths occurred shortly after the destruction of the school,” the report read. “Children not attending school will experience increasing isolation from the mainstream Pikangikum society, lack of programming and healthy activity, and could easily fall into the lure of solvent abuse.”
The report explains that the reserve has only around eight high school graduates each year and that in 2009 there were not any high school graduates who sought a post-secondary education in college or university.
“Almost none of these children seek post-secondary education,” reads a line in the report.
Upon hearing of the coroner’s report on the deaths in her home community, Suggashie was not too shocked or appalled.
“All I really hear are complaints and investigations, long-going investigations and that’s it,” Suggashie said. “My cousin just committed suicide not too long ago, and we are a good family. Abuse is what triggers it (suicide), emotional and verbal abuse. It’s not always about gas sniffing and alcohol.”
She feels that all the negative stories in the media about Pikangikum helped inspire her to get an education.
She attended school in Pikangikum as well as in different places like Northern Eagle High School in Ear Falls when it was still operating, and in Thunder Bay and Sandy Lake.
But she knows all is not well in Pikangikum. Suggashie attributes many of the problems to an imbalance along generational lines. She suspects there is a weak relationship between the youth and the Elders, so that youth struggle to learn their identity as Anishinaabe people.
Suggashie said that Pikangikum should go back to their traditional ways and reintroduce the Anishinaabe culture to the community with things like sharing circles. She said that the circles could start with a family on their own instead of something overwhelming like a community-sized circle.
Suggashie feels that Pikangikum is lucky in the sense that the reserve still speaks their language, something that is lost amongst a lot of other communities.
“In Pikangikum, the language is strong, they need to focus on the traditional aspects now,” she said.
New school not enough
John Duncan, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, announced in early August of this year that Pikangikum would be getting a new school.
Suggashie feels that the community will “be happy at first about the school, but they will need to do more things.” She feels that a community recreation center would benefit the youth and help keep them active.
Another aspect that could benefit the youth of the reserve would be welcoming the Elders of the community into the school on a regular basis for cultural teachings and activities, much like the Elders program that is running at Dennis Franklin Cromarty.
“The Elders could share their old stories, their ceremonies,” Suggashie said, just as the Elders had done with her. She said she didn’t know much about things like drumming before she spent time with the Elders. “They should get together with the youth.”
Family support key
Besides her culture, Suggashie credits the support of her family for helping her succeed, , most notably her grandparents George and Martha Suggashie. Her “gramma away from home” was Josephine Mandamin, an Elder with whom she graduated this year.
“You do need the support of your family when you’re away at school,” Suggashie said. Support also came from her own culture, which she describes as “strong.”
“It took me a long time to get through college, but I did it. I wanted to show my family that I wasn’t just out here for nothing,” Suggashie said. “I think once you are educated, you can do anything.”
Suggashie is currently working on putting together a traveling youth panel to speak to other communities about being third and fourth generation residential school survivors and their experiences as such.
“I think people need to listen to the youth, they are smarter than they think.”