From evidence of neglect at government-run clinics in Canada\u2019s northern reserves to the tragic loss of lives in remote villages in Alaska and on reservation lands in Montana, independent news coverage helps to frame the otherwise underreported issue of Indigenous mistreatment and suicide in historical terms, against the backdrops of settler colonialism and systemic racism that affect Indigenous people and their communities in Canada and the United States.<\/p>\n
Indigenous suicide is a serious public health issue throughout the United States, Devon Heinen reported for the New Statesman<\/i> in January 2020. In 2017 the combined suicide rate for US Indigenous peoples was 22.15 per 100,000 people, compared with an overall national average of 16.3 per 100,000 people, according to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Heinen reported. In Alaska\u2014where 229 of the 573 federally-recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages in the United States are located\u2014the Indigenous suicide rate from 1999 to 2009 was 42.5 per 100,000 people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Montana, Native youths aged 11 to 24 are five times more likely to die by suicide than non-Natives, according to data from the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, Mountain West News reported in July 2019. The suicide rate for Native youths in Montana is 42.82 per 100,000 people, compared with eight suicides per 100,000 people for all people in the same age range. Mountain West News reported that, over a period of three months, the Fort Belknap Reservation had experienced a \u201csuicide contagion,\u201d with three suicides and an estimated fifteen additional suicide attempts prompting the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council to declare a state of emergency.<\/p>\n As other reports documented, suicide has devastated First Nations communities in Canada. In June 2019, Claudette Commanda and Louise Bradley reported that suicide and self-inflicted injuries are \u201cthe leading cause of death\u201d for First Nations youth and adults up to age 44. In November 2019, the Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation\u00a0declared\u00a0a state of emergency<\/a> after a rash of suicides, and the deaths of four Indigenous men by suicide on Ochapowace First Nation led Ochapowace to declare a state of emergency<\/a> in December 2019. While affirming \u201cthe resiliency and strength of Indigenous peoples,\u201d Commanda and Bradley wrote that \u201chigh rates of suicide, homicide, incarceration and substance abuse born of colonial trauma illustrate the pain and suffering that Indigenous communities continue to experience.\u201d The impacts have been especially stark for First Nations male youth, for whom the suicide rate is 126 per 100,000, they noted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge that we face collectively,\u201d Commanda and Bradley wrote, \u201cis to draw a narrative thread through numbers that point to pain and hurt and give it a human voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Devon Heinen\u2019s January 2020 report for the New Statesman<\/i> shows how independent investigative journalism can contribute to this aim. Heinen reported in detail on the experience of one I\u00f1upiaq family in the aftermath of the death by suicide of Rosie Hadley, at age twenty. Drawing on extensive interviews with Hadley\u2019s family and those who knew her\u2014Heinen conducted 27 separate interviews over four months with Rosie\u2019s father, Nathan Hadley\u2014Heinen\u2019s report provided a vivid, detailed account of Rosie\u2019s life and the community of Buckland, population 400, in Alaska\u2019s remote and sparsely populated Northwest Arctic Borough. [Note<\/i>: As one of Heinen\u2019s sources\u2014Bree Swanson, a social services administrator\u2014explained, the Northwest Arctic tribal health region was the worst region for Indigenous suicide in Alaska from 2012 to 2015. Swanson identified generational trauma as one risk factor. Noting that colonization in the mainland United States was \u201chundreds of years old,\u201d Swanson said it is \u201cmore recent\u201d in Alaska. \u201cWe\u2019re talking grandparent generation,\u201d Swanson told New Statesman<\/i>.] Through its intimate investigation of one family\u2019s experience in the context of their community, the local lack of necessary social services, and the living legacy of the region\u2019s colonial history, Heinen\u2019s report provides a stark insight into one aspect of Indigenous suicide as a public health issue\u2014how, in his words, \u201cto help people heal after losing someone close.\u201d<\/p>\n [Note<\/i>: For another instance of the power with which in-depth investigative journalism can convey the challenges faced by determined Indigenous families and communities confronting violence, see Eil\u00eds Quinn, \u201cDeath in the Arctic,\u201d Eye on the Arctic, December 14, 2018, https:\/\/www.rcinet.ca\/eye-on-the-arctic-special-reports\/death-nunavik-quebec-arctic-canada\/#home<\/a>. Quinn reported the story of the violent death Robert Adams, a nineteen-year-old Inuk from Northern Quebec, and his father\u2019s struggle for access to mental health services, coroner\u2019s services, and the Inuit justice system. In January 2020, \u201cDeath in the Arctic\u201d won the silver medal at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards. \u201cEye on the Arctic report Death in the Arctic<\/i> Wins Prize at Canadian Online Publishing Awards,\u201d Eye on the Arctic, January 13, 2020, https:\/\/www.rcinet.ca\/eye-on-the-arctic\/2020\/01\/13\/eye-on-the-arctic-report-death-in-the-arctic-wins-prize-at-canadian-online-publishing-awards-copa-justice-journalism-nunavik\/<\/a>.]<\/p>\n An October 2019 report by Reuters documented how government-run or -sponsored health clinics in Canada are failing to provide Indigenous communities with necessary services. For more than nine years, the Canadian federal government has not consistently tracked, let alone investigated, poor outcomes at clinics on Indigenous reserves, Allison Martell reported. These clinics, known as nursing stations, are charged with providing basic and emergency care to about 115,000 people. Through analysis of documents, including internal reports and meeting notes obtained through public records requests, Martell reported that record-keeping on deaths and other \u201ccritical incidents\u201d at the clinics has been \u201cerratic and fragmented.\u201d Reuters documented at least two cases\u2014one in Ontario, and another in Manitoba\u2014in which nursing station officials turned away apparently intoxicated patients who subsequently died. Lack of adequate official records made it \u201cdifficult\u201d to determine whether this \u201chas been a widespread practice,\u201d Martell reported, but a coroner\u2019s verdict on one of the deaths described it as the \u201cnorthern protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are treating members of the First Nations communities as second-class citizens,\u201d Emily Hill, a senior staff lawyer with Aboriginal Legal Services, told Reuters. Martell wrote that Reuters\u2019s findings on deadly negligence in Canada\u2019s nursing stations came as Canada is \u201cin the midst of a public reckoning with the legacy of settler colonization.\u201d<\/p>\n Recent corporate news coverage on Indigenous suicide and other trauma associated with the destructive legacies of colonization has not been proportionate to the scope of the crisis\u2014with only a few notable exceptions. In August 2019, for example, U.S. News & World Report<\/i> published<\/a> a brief Associated Press report on the Fort Belknap community\u2019s response to suicides. This seven-sentence article drew heavily from previous, more substantial local reporting by the Billings Gazette<\/i>. In June 2019 USA Today<\/i> reported<\/a>, in more detail, on Native Americans\u2019 \u201cincreased risk of suicide,\u201d in light of the experience of Shelby Rowe, the executive director of the Arkansas Crisis Center, after she experienced a suicide crisis herself. In April 2018 the New York Times<\/i> published<\/a> a powerful, detailed story about the Arlee Warriors, a state championship high school basketball team from Montana\u2019s Flathead Indian Reservation, and its team members\u2019 efforts to help their community deal with suicide.<\/p>\n Devon Heinen, \u201cNobody to Call: The Plight of Indigenous Suicide in Alaska,\u201d\u00a0New Statesman<\/i>, January 10, 2020,\u00a0https:\/\/www.newstatesman.com\/2019\/12\/nobody-call-indigenous-suicides-alaska<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cTribe Faces Suicide Crisis,\u201d Mountain West News,\u00a0July 23, 2019, https:\/\/mountainwestnews.org\/rockies-today-for-tuesday-july-23-99e8bc80babc<\/a>.<\/p>\n Claudette Commanda and Louise Bradley, \u201cWe Must Not Forget Men When We Talk about Indigenous Trauma,\u201d\u00a0The Globe and Mail<\/i>,\u00a0June 16, 2019, https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/opinion\/article-we-must-not-forget-men-when-we-talk-about-indigenous-trauma\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n Allison Martell, \u201cDeaths, Bad Outcomes Elude Scrutiny at Canada\u2019s Indigenous Clinics,\u201d Reuters, October 24, 2019,\u00a0https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-canada-health-insight\/deaths-bad-outcomes-elude-scrutiny-at-canadas-indigenous-clinics-idUSKBN1X3152<\/a>.<\/p>\n Student Researchers:<\/b> Danna Henderson (First Nations University of Canada), Olivia Page (College of Marin), and Alicia Morrow (University of Regina)<\/p>\n Faculty Evaluators:\u00a0<\/b>Patricia W. Elliott (First Nations University of Canada), Susan Rahman (College of Marin), and Kehinde Olalafe (University of Regina)<\/p>\n The post #15. Indigenous Trauma and Suicide an Enduring Legacy of Colonialism<\/a> appeared first on Project Censored<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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