Social, cultural chaos contributes to suicide

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Aboriginal people should be making the policies that directly affect their communities, not the government, said a member of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People.

Paul Chartrand was the lone dissenter of the recommendations made in a scathing report on suicide in Aboriginal communities. "What I object to is a reaction that says we decide what's going to be the best for a community. It's the people most affected by government decisions that should be decided on policies.

The commission is following the steps of a paternalist government by recommending blanket policies for all communities without consultation, he added.

"We should work with Aboriginal governments, then work with communities and ask people what they want. We should create a discerning policy that does not deal with all Aboriginal communities the same way.

Suicide rates among Aboriginal people are three times higher than among non-Natives, with six times as many Aboriginal youth killing themselves. The commission, report, called Choosing Life, points to "severe social and cultural disorganization" and a lack of self-determination as the primary causes of the high rates of suicide. It predicts that unless decisive action is taken, the incidence of suicide will increase proportionately to the number of Aboriginal reaching adolescence.

The 135-page report calls for Aboriginal and federal governments to work together toward the creation of crisis services for every community, community development and healing plans, and initiatives promoting self-determination and self-sufficiency.

"The persistence of suicide among Aboriginal people in the face of past attempts

at crisis management is convincing proof that rates will be brought down only as a result of genuine community transformation," states the report.

Health Canada Assistant Deputy Minister Paul Cochrane responded cautiously to the commission's recommendations saying that the ministry will work on assessing existing programs. The minister will be meeting with interest groups in the near future to discuss the report. Cochrane was pleased the commission emphasized a shared responsibility between Aboriginal and federal governments for healing and community programs.

Minority commission Chartrand, a Metis lawyer from Manitoba, believes the report's recommendations are not detailed enough to be effective and that instead of dictating policy to Aboriginal communities, governments would better serve them by providing choices.

"If we are going to be faithful to a vision of meaningful Aboriginal self-determination there has to be two key elements in our work. One, the community has to decide it wants (our input). And two, the policy ought not to be to continue external aid, like to a Third World country. Governments should provide the resources that communities need to provide a good standard of living.

"It would have been better to take these recommendations to the communities themselves and see if they supported them," said Chartrand, from his home in Victoria, B.C. "I would have preferred that the people themselves had said 'This is what we want'.