Indigenous affairs critic in Ontario pushes for youth suicide strategy – APTN

December 19, 2019

The Ontario government needs a specialized non-partisan strategy to address the issue of suicide among First Nations youth, says the NDP’s Indigenous Affairs critic Sol Mamakwa.

“In 25 years, in 30 years’ time, we want to eliminate suicide. I think that should be our goal,” Mamakwa told APTN News in a telephone interview.

“I always thought the health care system was broken. But I soon realized that it was not broken. Rather it was working exactly the way it was designed to – which is to take away the rights of the people, the rights of Indigenous people to the lands and resources that are up there,” he said.

“So you can say that about education, you can say that about the housing program, you can say that about the justice system, you can say that about the child welfare system. These are colonial systems. They were never created in the best interest of our people.”

Mamakwa is an NDP Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Kiiwetinoong Riding in northwestern Ontario.

Read More: https://aptnnews.ca/2019/12/19/indigenous-critic-ontario-pushes-youth-suicide-strategy/