WARNING: This story contains details of suicide and self -harm.
An investigation into the suicidal death of four teenagers in Alberta warns that fear of child welfare system among indigenous families is a dangerous barrier to take care of children from the first nations in crisis.
The investigation of public fatality, directed by Judge Danielle Dalton in October 2022, investigated the death of four young people from Maskwacis and their four communities of the first nations between 2017 and 2020.
Dalton’s 44 recommendations, if they are followed, would alter the way the Alberta Children’s Welfare System determines when a minor needs intervention, ensures new mental health support for indigenous children in crisis and institute new programs to carefully trace the toll of death.
None of the various government and health agencies appointed in the report has submitted formal responses to the recommendations.
In a statement to CBC News, the Ministry of Services for Children and Families of Alberta said it is reviewing the report and will provide an answer in the fall.
“It is essential that work continues to connect indigenous children and young people with their families, communities and culture, in association with indigenous communities,” says the statement.
“The work to strengthen cultural support and connections with the community for those who need child intervention services continue.”
Identified in the report of only their initials, adolescents, aged 15 to 19, had come into contact with the child welfare system, but none was under careful at the time of their death.
CL, 15 years old, a member of Samson Cree First Nation, died at home after a young life fogged by family tragedies that resulted in the death of her sister and her brother and separated her from the mother she had always met.
At age 19, TM, a member of the first nation of Louis Bull, had suffered an incessant childhood domestic abuse that left her fighting to deal with the paralyzing depression that was strengthened after the birth of her child.
The girls were found dead on December 19, 2017.
Mr. and is, Montana believes Nation, they were brothers. Described as intelligent and good heart, they shared a close bond.
Mr. died in May 2017 at 15 years after years of sexual abuse and a vicious assault in a group home.
It is increasingly isolated by the pandemic and traumatized for having found his sister in his final moments, he took his life in April 2020 at 16.
‘Still in crisis’
The deaths are part of a series of suicides that affected the community for decades, said Randy Litthlechild, CEO of Maskwacis Health Services, a community health center that provides advice and response care to the mental health crisis throughout the year within the communities of the Alberta Central Reserve.
Litthlechild said the number of suicides has decreased in recent years as they were available more mental support. But as the number of suicides has decreased, mortal overdose has increased, he said.
“They have just moved from a mental health crisis to want some relief … but they are not healing them at all. They are hurting them more.”
Litthlechild said there is a feeling of hopelessness among many young people from Maskwacis. The problems of extreme poverty and isolation are aggravated by the pain and legacy of residential schools.
“The community is still in crisis.”
In his findings, launched earlier this month, Dalton makes recommendations aimed at dismantling barriers to attention while reaffirming the previous calls to address the high number of indigenous children who die under care.
Dalton said that examining the four suicides through a combined investigation was an unusual step, but it meant that deaths could be understood, not as anomalies, but as part of a larger crisis that continues to develop in the communities of the first nations.
“It can be fanciful and even arrogant to think that this report will move the dial,” he wrote.
“But I am convinced that this process is, however, an important one, if it is not for another reason to shed light on this ongoing tragedy.”
Intervention prevention
The report highlights a significant barrier in the provincial child welfare system: the requirement that a child should be considered “need for intervention” to provide services.
The legal threshold often forces parents to admit that “lack of will or inability” to take care of their child before intervention services can be provided.
This approach aggravates a deep distrust of child protection services within indigenous communities, Dalton wrote.
The residential schools and the scoop of the sixties saw generations of indigenous children retired from their families and that trauma continues to reverberate.
Read more about the lives of the sister and brother who died for suicide, with years apart:
Dalton asks Alberta’s government to amend the law of improving children, youth and family to allow indigenous young people to immediately access safe and preventive safe services without the need to satisfy the threshold of “need for intervention.”
It also requires changes that guarantee that indigenous young people with significant mental health problems can access services, without requiring a negligence finding of parents.
“The state intrusion in family life should only be done when necessary,” Dalton wrote.
“At the same time, the threshold for state intervention, even if a tutor seeks help, can be unacceptably high.”
Current laws force guardians to a dilemma: seek help and risk losing a child or reject help and face potential damage.
Dalton discovered that the fear of child welfare services in the three families affected by suicides. In the case of CL, facing the apprehension of her family care, she and her brothers escaped twice.
The distrust was more marked in the case of SR, Dalton wrote.
She began to self -harm two years before her death. Her mother, desperate to keep her safe, finally delivered SR custody to a group house in the hope that she could support better.
Shortly after, Mr. suffered an assault on the group home that resulted in injuries that alter life.
He returned home, but was afraid to leave and stop attending school. She died the following year.
‘Ticking watch’
Together with the alteration of the critical threshold for the intervention, Dalton requested changes that eliminated the “marking clock” of child welfare services.
According to Alberta’s current legislation, there are timelines for when a child eliminated from family custody must be placed under a permanent guardianship order.
The total time during which a child is under the care of a director cannot exceed nine months if the child is less than six years to 12 months if the child is older.
The act of having a young man in attention begins the clock that occurs towards permanence and possibly losing a child forever, mortality investigation was heard.
Read more about two young women who died the same day and the challenging circumstances that shape their lives:
Cheryl Whiskyjack, Executive Director of the traditional Bent Arch Healing Society based in Edmonton, which provides mental health support to indigenous young women and families, said indigenous parents care that access to services will place them on the radar of the system.
This often leads families to fight alone until a crisis becomes unmanageable, he said.
“There has always been that fear of the community and has nothing to do with the line between prevention and intervention. It is a fear of the system.”
She said the approach should be to ensure that the children of the first nations can remain within their families through kinship care plans to maintain their connection with the community and heritage.
“Colonial history, the family system is fractured.”
SUICIDE CONTAGE
Dalton’s recommendations also focused on mitigating the risk of suicide infection.
When a young man dies from suicide in a united indigenous community, the impact of his death is deep and it is not uncommon for suicide to be followed by another.
To stop the dangerous phenomenon, Dalton recommends the development of objective duel support for indigenous young people who have lost someone for suicide, and that funds for these programs are a priority.
Healing is needed throughout the community.– Peyasy Wutunee
The contagion and pain of suicide were evident in each of the deaths, according to the investigation. Each of the teenagers was dealing with the recent death of a loved one or a person close to them.
Peyasu Wutunee, manager of Maskwacis Health Services, told investigation that pain is perhaps the biggest challenge the community faces when trying to reduce the risk of suicide.
“It is not just the money that will address the problems,” he testified. “Healing is needed throughout the community.”
Power struggle, null data
Dalton also requested changes to address what she characterized as a critical lack of cooperation between the complex framework agencies responsible for caring for the children of the first nation in crisis.
Agencies must work together to avoid a “struggle of power” between jurisdictions and ensure that the first nations can access specialized services that may not be able to provide themselves, he wrote.
A vacuum of data collection was also highlighted. Suicide is among the main causes of death among indigenous young people, but the scope of the crisis within the reserve communities is not done, Dalton wrote.
The services for children and relatives of the province and Alberta Health do not collect specific indigenous data on youth suicide. Dalton said it must change to ensure that resources are implemented where they are most needed.
She said that service providers must also develop information exchange protocols to ensure that all relevant parts have the necessary details about a child’s history to provide effective care.
Dalton’s report also recognizes the power of cultural identity as a means to protect indigenous young people.
She recommended that governments continue to point to funds towards the program directed by the community, entrust the communities of the first nations to meet the needs of their own children.
Litthlechild echoed those calls. Restoring tradition will provide the strength and purpose of the next generation, he said.
“That cultural awareness that was never brought to children, is now beginning to return.
“They are beginning to see and understand their own culture and understand how valuable life is.”
If you or someone you know are fighting, this is where to look for help:
