THUNDER BAY – MPP Sol Mamakwa called out the Doug Ford government during question period on Wednesday -- for failing to attend last month's emergency meeting discussing high suicide rates in First Nation communities.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation hosted the meeting in Ottawa on Jan. 24 following a string of youth suicides in First Nation communities across the region. Federal and provincial ministers were invited to the meeting, but none of the four provincial members attended.
“The leadership from NAN were very disappointed when none of the Ontario ministers showed up for the meeting,” said Mamakwa, Kiiwetinoong MPP and the NDP's deputy leader.
“Can this government let the people know why they didn't show up for the emergency meeting?”
MPP Greg Rickford, minister of Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs, responded by saying he followed up with NAN after the meeting.
“In subsequent conversations with the grand chief of Nishnawbi Aski Nation, we have reaffirmed our commitment in a couple of important categories to address the mental health crisis, both in isolated communities and as well for students attending school in Thunder Bay,” he said.
“Those resources, Mr. Speaker, focus on NAN Hope, a program run by Keewaytinook Okimakanak, an organization widely accepted . . . as the right organization to deliver services to students on reserve and transitioning to the big city, as well as mental health resources on the ground in Thunder Bay, and additional new funding to support the challenges they face.”
Rickford said this was the right action to take as it addressed concerns raised by NAN leadership.
But Mamakwa said while he was thankful to the government for that funding, it was “peanuts.”
“This government has an opportunity to listen to First Nations on health transformation -- to be true partners, treaty partners in health,” Mamakwa said.
“We cannot continue to operate in crisis and we don't need to continue to lose our children, to preventable deaths by suicide. It's not normal to attend funerals for 11-year-olds that have died by suicide. Will this government start taking this Nishnawbe Aski Nation health state of emergency seriously?”
Ontario’s Associate Minister of Health and Addiction, Michael Tibollo, said the government does take very seriously the work that it is doing with First Nations throughout Ontario, especially in the north and in the remote communities.
“In fact, under the leadership of Premier Ford, this government, the Minister of Indigenous Affairs, we're working collaboratively with all First Nations across the province of Ontario,” he said.
“We're making investments in all the communities as well as utilizing the addiction recovery fund to put 56 per cent of all the beds we've opened in the province in northern Ontario.”