I really wanted to do this story because of what's been happening in my community. This summer, my 19-year-old cousin threw himself out of a vehicle speeding down a gravel road attempting to kill himself. He survived but now has a brain injury. In Turnor Lake this past August, a 15-year-old girl committed suicide after allegedly suffering from sexual abuse. And in my community, Canoe Lake Cree Nation, two young people killed themselves last year. The young guy killed himself first and then during his wake, his girlfriend went home and committed suicide.
Stories like these are all too common and tragic.
I went into the Aboriginal Student Centre here on campus one day during lunch and just asked everyone there, "who here knows someone who has committed suicide?" Everyone in the centre except one person put their hand up. Some people had lost someone who was just an acquaintance while others had lost brothers, sisters and classmates. One of the people I'm interviewing, Pamela Sparvier (see left photo) lost both her brothers, a brother-in-law and almost lost her sister to suicide. Her sister attempted to shoot herself in the head and instead shot through her neck, severing her spinal cord and becoming paralyzed from the neck down.I'm waiting for a call back from a researcher at the Indigenous Peoples Health Research Centre who I'm hoping will be able to provide me with some insight into why the suicide rates are so high, especially as you move north in province.
Check back for updates to this story and in the meantime, if you want more information, check out the following websites:
htttp://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/promotion/suicide/index-eng.php
http://www.honouringlife.ca/
This story will be in the third edition of Ink. And keep checking our J-School website to see my complete story:
htttp://www.jschool.ca
1 comment:
"Everyone in the centre except one person put their hand up."
That one person unbelievably was me.
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