FSIN Vice-Chief Seeks Suicide Prevention Funding

FSIN Vice-Chief Seeks Suicide Prevention Funding

Tuesday, September 08, 2009 at 13:56

A vice-chief with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations is calling on the federal government for more funding to combat suicide among First Nations youth.

Glen Pratt says statistics prove the crisis is affecting First Nations youth at a much higher rate than non-Aboriginal kids.

This is National Suicide Prevention Week.

Pratt says the government would be doing the nation a favour if it stepped up to the plate financially.

“The governments need to recognize that our suicide rates are five to seven times higher than mainstream, but yet the funding levels don’t reflect that. So if we’re truly going to have an impact on youth suicides, then we’re going to have to recognize that we need five times the level of funding and investment to really deal with youth suicide,” he says.

Pratt stresses that youth must be involved in finding solutions to the problem in every community.