First Nations ‘crying’ for help
Eskasoni wants better mental-health aid for Indigenous people
Eskasoni is trying to catch its breath. Sharon Rudderham, Eskasoni director of health, said Thursday that Nova Scotia’s largest Mi’kmaq community is grieving after a series of deaths from issues like cancer as well as “multiple” suicides.
“It’s still fairly raw … Retraumatization of our community members has really created an urgent situation that we’re dealing with,” Rudderham said in an interview at the new Eskasoni Health Centre that overlooks the north shore of the Bras d’Or Lake.
“It’s hard for individuals to … have time to heal.”
The temperature in the Cape Breton community dipped below -10 C on Thursday afternoon as wind whipped the shore behind the health centre and schools along the main road. Kids were playing with a dog in a front yard, sleds in hand. On a tree by the road, a red dress symbolizing missing and murdered Indigenous women floated from a branch.
Both Rudderham and Eskasoni Chief Leroy Denny prefer not to say exactly how many suicides the community is dealing with. Denny told a press conference live-streamed Thursday morning he wants to “respect the privacy and confidentiality of our families who are grieving.”
For many residents, the situation brings to mind another crisis in 2009, when Eskasoni also saw multiple suicides in a short span of time. But Rudderham said the community of nearly 5,000 people is better prepared now than it was 10 years ago to deal with addiction and mental-health issues. A crisis line and centre with 12 staff is open 24/7 for people to call or drop in, even at 3 a.m. if they can’t sleep and need someone to talk to, she said.
The range of services may have improved, but Rudderham said “sustainable funding” is still needed so they’re able to provide help throughout the year. The services they do have are now largely funded by the band council, Denny said during the press conference, and he wants government to provide more support.
“We must do a better job,” he said repeatedly. “From all levels of government, I’ve been crying out for help many times … for many, many years now.”
Denny said there’s a suicide crisis in First Nations communities across the country and he wants more than “a Band-Aid solution.” He called for a longterm funding commitment from the Canadian government for community-driven mentalhealth resources.
“Mental health has to be addressed and it has to be culturally relevant. Our culture and language have to be respected and also to be recognized,” he said. “Our own people have the solutions. We just need that trust from the government to help us lead so we can continue to learn and to figure out ways to better serve our people.”
Denny said he’s often asked why Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by suicide.
“It’s just the 500 years of system failures and policies of genocide, and if you just look into the history … you see many of these policies don’t work for our people, (policies) that have been implemented for over centuries and have affected all the Indigenous people across the country,” he said.