Children's advocate calls for missing, murdered women inquiry to probe suicides

Manitoba’s children’s advocate says an alarming number of indigenous girls are killing themselves — a disturbing trend which should be included in the upcoming inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.

Darlene MacDonald says she made the suggestion to federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett in a letter last week but hasn’t received a reply.

Of 33 suicides MacDonald has investigated in the last three years, 17 were indigenous girls.

"We just have to stop this," she said in an interview Monday. "Whether youth go missing or die at the hands of others, or whether they feel so much despair that they die by their own choice, the loss of these youth is a tragedy. It needs to be included in the scope of national dialogue."

The Liberals have said they want an inquiry into Canada’s approximately 1,200 missing and murdered indigenous sitting by the summer. Bennett and other ministers have been holding consultations across the country to determine the scope of the inquiry, but MacDonald said she wasn’t invited to the Winnipeg meeting.

Her comments come after several suicides by members of Manitoba’s Cross Lake First Nation. The youngest was a 14−year−old girl.

Canada wants to prevent indigenous girls from dying as a result of violence, but MacDonald suggests the country "will be doomed to fail if we do not remember those who continue to die by suicide."

Some of the reasons why some girls take their own lives are the same as factors that lead them to be exploited and vulnerable, she said. Many don’t feel they have family or support, MacDonald said, or they have friends or family members who have committed suicide and it becomes an acceptable choice similar to drugs or alcohol.

"That is so concerning. We need to come together as a society, as a community, to give these kids some alternatives and to look at the stories and learn from them.

"Children need to be offered hope."

A spokesperson for Bennett said she wasn’t available for an interview and issued a statement calling the loss of human life through suicide "tragic."

The statement didn’t address the call to include suicides in the inquiry. It only said the government is consulting with various groups to determine "the best possible inquiry to address violence against indigenous women and girls."

Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson, who represents northern Manitoba First Nations including Cross Lake, said suicides need attention — whether that’s in the form of the formal inquiry or not.

Many ambitious indigenous girls are frustrated living in overcrowded reserve housing without proper access to education or employment opportunities, she said. Some become depressed, suffer from low self−esteem and don’t feel as if they belong.

That makes them vulnerable to suicidal thoughts and "predators who take advantage of how sad and lost they feel," North Wilson said.

"I hope ... the inquiry will point out the lack of opportunity and the lack of resources available to indigenous girls and women and that will, in turn, start to address the feelings of suicide."