CBC: First Nation in crisis amid growing rate of youth suicide

Monday, September 5, 2011  

"A remote First Nation in Northern Ontario that has been mourning a spate of youth suicides this summer dearly needs federal help to build a new school and housing if it's to improve conditions for its young people, according to a report from the Ontario chief coroner's office.

Five people between the ages of 16 and 26 have killed themselves since July 15 in the community of Pikangikum, about 300 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

That's just part of an overall suicide rate that has been abnormally high for years. The coroner's report, commissioned before this summer's tragedies, looks back at the 16 people between ages 10 and 19 who took their own lives on the First Nation between 2006 and 2008 — in a community of 2,400 residents."

Get the Story:
AUDIO: First Nation's suicide crisis 'universal challenge' (CBC 9/3)