Eskasoni First Nations frustrated by suicide line funding lapse

The pioneers behind a crisis line in a Cape Breton First Nation say it's frustrating to hear Ottawa MPs debating the latest outbreak of aboriginal suicides after federal and provincial agencies let funding lapse for their community's successful prevention system.

Sharon Paul-Rudderham, health director at Eskasoni, said Thursday that front-line programs have helped drastically reduce suicide attempts in the First Nation community after an outbreak of suicides made headlines in 2009.

However, she says the $300,000 in funding for six full-time and four casual employees fluent in Mi'kmaq relies on the band's limited resources.

The funds were initially provided by Health Canada and the province's Health Department, but the funding fell away in 2014 when the government shifted to a provincewide 1-800 mental health crisis line and dropped money for the Mi'kmaq crisis line.

The toll-free hotline uses trained aboriginal crisis workers to help people struggling with mental health issues and refers callers to staff who can provide further care.

"Once our crisis was out of the headlines, all of the funding dried up," said Paul-Rudderham.

She said while Parliament recently held an emergency debate on the remote Cree community of Attawapiskat where there have been 11 suicide attempts so far this month and 28 recorded attempts in March neither the province nor Ottawa show enough consistent support.

Paul-Rudderham said Eskasoni stopped submitting proposals because, "we were told by Health Canada that crisis lines weren't within their mandate to fund."

'No recent official requests'

Eric Morrissette, a spokesman for Health Canada, said in an email that the agency has "no recent official requests for suicide crisis intervention from Eskasoni," while adding the agency is aware that mental health and addictions support is a priority for Atlantic chiefs.

The agency acknowledges that suicide levels in aboriginal youth are among the highest in the world.

Health Canada statistics indicate that a young aboriginal man is 10 times more likely to commit suicide than the Canadian average, while young aboriginal women are 21 times higher than the average.

Leo Glavine, the Nova Scotia health minister, said Thursday the existing 1-800 provincewide crisis line has been getting good results, and he didn't make any promises to help restore funding tothe Eskasoni program.

However, he said he's open to holding further discussions with the band's chief.

"If there's something we need to address then we'll certainly take a look at that," he said.