Doctors distressed by mental health services to First Nations

A group of physicians who provide medical care to First Nations in northwestern Ontario are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Health Minister Jane Philpott to address the “escalating” mental health crisis in those communities.

The doctors outlined their concerns in a letter released ahead of an Ottawa meeting set for this afternoon.

Philpott and Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins will be discussing suicide and regional health problems with Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler – the head of an umbrella organization representing 49 reserves in northern Ontario.

The letter says the physicians are distressed by the perpetual mental health crises in First Nations communities, adding the federal bureaucracy does not have the proper tools to implement prevention and treatment programs.

They say changing the status quo means giving more resources and responsibilities to First Nations themselves.

Philpott, Hoskins and Fiddler were expected to sign a joint charter Monday to outline how they can work together to overhaul the way health care is delivered to northern Ontario reserves.

For his part, Hoskins says Ontario will also send 20 new fulltime mental health workers to Pikangikum First Nation – a remote community that has long struggled with a suicide crisis and most recently the deaths of four young people.