The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ) is opening an investigation into the suicides of young Aboriginal people in the Anicinape communities of Kitciskaik and Lac Simon, near Val-d’Or. Five people aged 14 to 26 have ended their lives there since August, “some” of whom were known and followed by the DPJ.
In a statement released late Wednesday afternoon, the organization said it had opened this investigation “on its own initiative” after being informed of the case.
“Some of these young people were known to the DPJ of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, which justifies the Commission’s intervention in accordance with section 23b) of the Youth Protection Actsince there are reasons to believe in lesions of rights”, affirms in particular the Commission.
The latter also adds that its investigation “will relate, in particular, to the nature of the services” which were rendered to the young Aboriginal people in question.
More specifically, the Commission’s investigation will aim to “verify whether the rights of young people have been respected”, as well as to ensure “that measures are taken so that the situation does not recur”, insists the CDPDJ .
Towards “systemic” recommendations
As required by the organization’s mandate, the investigation will not be public, but the latter indicates that at the end of its work, it “could make public the systemic recommendations, if necessary”. The “conclusions or recommendations which concern the situation or the individual file of a child”, however, will not be made public.
“For the purposes of protection and confidentiality, and in order to respect the right to privacy of young people under the DYP, the Commission will not make any further comments about the investigation and no interview will be granted”, concludes -we.
Remember that the five young people who killed themselves were respectively 14, 16, 17, 18 and 26 years old. Their disappearance had shaken the local communities, and the CISSS de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue had deployed additional resources in several localities. A psychologist is also dispatched by the federal government, on a monthly basis, to the region.
In June 2019, Statistics Canada had shown in a study that suicide rates among First Nations, Métis and Inuit in Canada are significantly higher than among the non-Indigenous population.
Between 2011 and 2016, among Inuit, the rate was about nine times higher than that of the non-Indigenous population. Among First Nations, it was three times higher. And among First Nations living on reserve, the suicide rate was about twice that of First Nations living off reserve. Finally, the suicide rate among people who self-identified as Métis was about twice as high as that of non-Aboriginal people.
The study attributed a higher risk of death by suicide among First Nations, Métis and Inuit to several factors. These factors include household income, level of education, marital status, living on or off reserve, and community size, among others.
With The Canadian Press