Alberta鈥檚 child and youth advocate is calling for a provincially-funded suicide prevention strategy and increased support for indigenous youth in a report that details the short, troubled lives of seven aboriginal teens and their deaths by suicide.
, released Monday, looked at the deaths of seven young aboriginal people from different communities, who took their own lives over the course of 18 months in 2013 and 2014.
The teens ranged in age from 14 to 18, and included two brothers who died by suicide just four months apart.
All seven teens were either receiving provincial child intervention services at the time of their deaths, or within two years of their suicides.
鈥淭heir deaths by suicide are heartbreaking and focuses attention on what can only be described as a terrible tragedy that is occurring among aboriginal young people,鈥� Alberta鈥檚 Child Youth Advocate Del Graff wrote in the report.
The report was released amid renewed calls for a national aboriginal suicide prevention strategy and more mental health support, following a rash of suicide attempts on the remote northern Ontario First Nation of Attawapiskat.
Although Graff鈥檚 report includes many revealing details about the teens鈥� lives, it refers to them by pseudonyms: Asinay, Cedar, Sage, Morley, Kari, Victoria and Jacob.
Their lives were 鈥渕arked by the presence of risk factors for suicide,鈥� the report notes. Each teen experienced early childhood trauma, which included domestic violence, parents struggling with substance abuse, mental health issues or suicide in the family.
鈥淢any came from backgrounds and communities of socioeconomic disadvantage,鈥� the report says. 鈥淎ll were impacted by the legacy of residential schools.鈥�
In the case of brothers Sage, 15, and Cedar, 18, who died by suicide four months apart, the report says domestic violence and addiction were a regular presence in their lives.
The brothers and the rest of their siblings intermittently spent years in foster care, either because their mother had abandoned them or because they were neglected at home, the report says. When they were in their mother鈥檚 care, she struggled to raise them. At one point, neither Cedar nor Sage were attending school and both were abusing substances, the report says.
After Sage took his own life at the family home, Cedar felt responsible for his brother鈥檚 death. Four months later, Cedar was also found dead at home, the report says.
Graff鈥檚 report makes a number of recommendations, including a provincially-funded suicide prevention strategy, more services to support 鈥渉olistic community-led strategies to address aboriginal youth suicide,鈥� and a review of child intervention case practices.
The tragic deaths by suicide of seven teens within an 18-month period can 鈥渟erve to highlight the terrible trend of aboriginal youth suicide, which is having serious effects on our province and our entire country,鈥� the report says.
