BR Innu Plea – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
Jun 8, 2017

One of Labrador’s most outspoken aboriginal leaders is calling on the federal and provincial governments to change the way treatment is arranged for indigenous children and youth with substance abuse problems.

Simeon Tshakapesh (SHAK-ah-pesh), deputy grand chief of the Innu Nation, says he’s seeking funding for a new youth treatment centre in Labrador because he wants to end the practice of sending youth away for treatment.

Tshakapesh’s is making the plea only two weeks after his 16-year-old son, Thunderheart, took his own life.

Much of the treatment he received for solvent abuse was in other places, far from his home in Natuashish (not-WAH-sheesh).

The deputy chief released an open letter yesterday that makes it clear he believes the province’s Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development failed his son.

Tshakapesh says he wants to see the provincial and federal governments invest in an Innu-led project that would put an end to the removal of children and youth from their communities.

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(The Canadian Press)

INDEX: NATIONAL JUSTICE ATLANTIC POLITICS