Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 9th, 2016

[Chief Isadore Day]

Today, we're looking at the first nation health crisis and specifically mental health. We feel that mental health should be a shared plan. Our first nations are quite prepared to do this work, but as you indicated, one of the shortfalls in the 2016 budget was with respect to mental health and addictions.

We've got a very brief plan. We've spelled out the types of investments that are required. You will recall that in the standing committee that we had on NAN health emergency, the government was faced with the issue as it was seen in the north. However, across the board, what we need across the country right now is a $136 million increase annually to deal with mental health and addictions. These are investments that should have been made in the 2016 budget but were not.

We've been very succinct and very clear about how to break up that investment. That is in our supplementary material.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you. That's very helpful.

We've been hearing a lot about a first nations mental wellness continuum framework, but the government has told this committee that there's $350,000 for that. What do we need to ensure that we can make full use of that?

[Chief Isadore Day]

Again, the overall ask is for $136 million, breaking that down across 633 first nations across the country. It just shows that even at $136 million, it's a pretty conservative estimate. We definitely need a lot more, but this is what we need immediately.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

This is really helpful because I did get a Facebook message from a young woman in one of our northern communities. She said, “I hear there's an emergency response team going to Attawapiskat. Could you drop a couple of workers off in our community because we don't have any?”

I want to go to ground. In 2009, we had a horrific suicide crisis in the James Bay region and Chief Jonathan Solomon spoke eloquently of that. At that time, the provincial workers were laying off staff at Payukotayno because they had spent their budget, because they were working around the clock trying to keep children alive.

Then there was a big outcry, so the provincial government augmented its efforts, and said they would hire new workers. In 2012, when nobody was paying attention, they laid them all off.

In 2014, I was in the communities and we had children on suicide watch because there were no mental health workers and the only tool they had was to take the children into custody and put them into child welfare and foster care, as they had no other tools to help these children. The children were going to ground.

In 2016, we have another huge blow-up of a suicide crisis and everybody was wringing their hands and saying, “How did this happen?”

It seems to me that if we don't have the ongoing support on the ground to respond to young people when they need it, what we're seeing in northern Manitoba, Attawapiskat, Pikangikum is the result. You have the experience.

What do we need to make sure that we don't have to respond in the middle of a crisis, but are preventing a crisis?

[Chief Isadore Day]

That's a good question, Mr. Angus, and I want to refer back to what just took place in the Ontario region.

Premier Kathleen Wynne has been a champion of a number of issues as they pertain to the aboriginal community and has a very direct relationship with first nations in Ontario. As such, as seen with the issues in Attawapiskat and in the north, it was the provincial government that stepped up first in most cases.

Recently, with the announcement of a $220-million health investment in Ontario, focused on the north where it's needed, one of the things we need to be clear on here at the committee in terms of sending this back to the federal government is that the Ontario government is saying that it will put in six new treatment centres in the province of Ontario for first nations, but it needs the federal government to finally come to bat. This is going to be required immediately. What we want to be able to do is make use of those investments in the Ontario region, for example, but we need the federal government to work with us on the capital side now.

I think it's safe to say that a lot of people are doing a lot of work, and I think the federal government has said a lot of good things. They've made some promises and created high expectations. The provincial government has come to bat now, and I think we need the federal government to move on some of the other issues, such as capital for treatment centres.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

I want to close out on that, because the fact is that the provincial government stepped up in an area of federal jurisdiction with $220 million on the table. We need to get a comprehensive plan for treatment centres. The fact is that we have no place to send young people out for treatment. We were told by Health Canada that it would be “utopian” to meet the need for mental health wellness teams. They have, what, 10 mental wellness teams now? We asked them if they didn't need 80, and they said, well, it would be “utopian” to get there. They didn't seem to have a plan.

What do you think we need to do to close that gap? If the province is stepping up in regions where we have serious mental health and health problems, what does the federal government have to do?

[Chief Isadore Day]

I think we need to make the determination that action is needed now. We can't fall into this cyclical phenomenon of proactive disengagement. We can't keep talking to see no results. We definitely need the federal government to move. We need commitments now. We need to be able to see what the government is prepared to put forward in terms of those investments in dollar values, and within this quarter, within the next fiscal year. We need action today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thanks to both of you.

The next question is from Mike Bossio.

[Mike Bossio, Liberal, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Thank you once again, Chief Day, for being here. I always appreciate the way you can articulate the needs of your community very well and very up front, and in a succinct way. You've done a great job here of outlining the needs from the mental health side and the $136 million of annual funding.

What is the funding that is there today? Is this $136 million above and beyond funding...? I know that I keep talking about the contribution agreements and all these things that happen, the one-offs, the one year here and the one year there, and the lack of long-term funding, but given the budget that was released and the investments that were made there, is there any funding in it that is specified for this area?

[Chief Isadore Day]

Right now, Mike, the national aboriginal youth suicide prevention strategy is a program that allows communities the flexibility to develop programming that is relevant to them and meets their unique needs, but the NAYSPS currently funds up to approximately 145 of these sorts of projects annually, at a price tag of $13.5 million a year, keeping in mind that there are over 630 first nations in Canada.

In addition, this total is not reflective of the resources that make it to first nation communities. For example, the strategy also provided $1.2 million last year to the Mental Health Commission to develop mental health first aid courses that many first nations will not be able to afford to send workers to. We simply need to rethink and reconfigure this investment. The increase is vital.

Mike, to your point, there are investments that are made right now, but they're not even making a dent. The $136 million—

[Mike Bossio, Liberal, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Yes, we have $13 million versus $136 million. It's not even a tenth of the funding that's required.

[Chief Isadore Day]

Yes, exactly.

[Mike Bossio, Liberal, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

This is a long-term plan that you've put forward, too, because it's annually.... Have you done projections out as far as the level of funding required? I know that we're in a crisis situation now, but is this above and beyond the crisis? We need to deal with this crisis funding. Also, like any crisis situation, you need to go at it with full force in order to mitigate, to relieve the crisis, and then have long-term funding in place in order to maintain levels that will hopefully make sure from a long-term standpoint that we don't run into another crisis and that we get out of this cycle.

[Chief Isadore Day]

Right, and let me speak to that because it's a good point. I don't think throwing good money after bad money is something that government wants to do. However, what this $136 million represents is not just an effort to deal the crisis, or with medium- and long-term planning. This money is for all of the above. What this does is it gets boots on the ground. It puts those mental health workers back in the community, but it also brings the teams together in the community. That way, your investment is cultivating a response at all levels in the community. For example, in Ontario the investments are in land-based cultural programming. What we need is the federal government to come in to put these community teams together so that this money stays in the communities. It's actually the communities that are participating, developing, and implementing the plans, and ultimately evaluating their success.

[Mike Bossio, Liberal, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Have you done projections in any other areas? I keep coming back to the whole funding model. We have to get out of this trap of these bloody contribution agreements and grants so that indigenous communities can start to set their own priorities and maximize the efficiency of the funds going into those communities.

Has AFN done projections from a self-government and self-determination standpoint? I recognize that there are many differences across the country in programs and how they can be delivered, but have any projections been done in other areas like this?

[Chief Isadore Day]

I can't speak to those, but we can get the information for you and the committee. There's often this thing that happens when we get outside consultants and experts to come to work in the communities. You're seeing automatic leakage. You're seeing more time spent in building trust, and building a relationship. Then, before you know it, the consultants and the professionals are gone.

There's value in that type of spending model when you're investing in community wellness teams. We have the plan. We've done the work. We have experts in our communities, and we have the land. The projections will speak for themselves. We will see more success if these are community-based and the results and the process stay in the community.

[Mike Bossio, Liberal, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

I have been to Mistassini in northern Quebec, to the Cree Nation. I was there in the mid-eighties, in 1986, and I was there again in 2005, and the transformation that occurred in that community over 20 years blew my mind. It's referred to as the Quebec model. It doesn't surprise me one bit that the suicide rate there is non-existent. The amount of pride that the communities take in building a community with recreation centres and health centres is something you have to go see. It is a model of what is possible, a model for pride of community.

Are there other examples you see out there, from a self-government standpoint, where what has happened in Quebec has happened in other areas as a result of self-determination, funding, and prioritization, where the suicide crisis doesn't exist?

[Chief Isadore Day]

That I can't speak of right now. Internationally, the Maori and other indigenous communities around the world have a much greater sense of autonomy and recognition, and if you have these things you're going to see results. It's important to give communities the autonomy and recognition necessary for their own healing. In Hollow Lake , they dealt with sexual abuse issues in the past, and they were able to put models in place at the community level. Alkali Lake in B.C. was part of the initial healing movement and helped to bring in the NNADAP program for our people. It's now understood that investing in community-based programs is the most successful way to go.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

We're going to move to questions from Arnold Viersen, Gary Anandasangaree, and Cathy McLeod.

Mr. Viersen.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Thank you, Isadore Day, for being here today. I really appreciate your being here.

We recently heard from Natan Obed, from the territory of Nunavut. He brought us what I found to be a very informative piece of paper that talked about risk factors and protective factors. He also talked a lot about how, because of a lot of things, indigenous culture has been tampered with and significantly reduced, and that in some ways suicide is part of the current indigenous culture. It's something, especially in Nunavut, that everybody has lived with. Everybody has known somebody who has committed suicide. It was this kind of thing.

There was a definite sense from him that there was a need to pull the suicide out of the culture and to rebuild the culture to some degree. One of the things he talked about significantly was violence and abuse within the culture at this point, which is generational in some cases.

You had a plan that you were showing us. I was wondering how your plan helps to rebuild that culture and take suicide out of the culture. There is significant evidence that shows that when a community suffers from suicide, it's contagious and continues to grow.

My question has a couple of parts. How do you rebuild the culture and remove suicide from that culture and ensure that we can remove violence and create strong families? You will probably run out the clock on that, I think.

[Chief Isadore Day]

No. That's fine. I'm going to try to address that by saying, first of all, thank you for that, because it's an important question.

As for taking suicide out of the culture, culture has become probably the central focus of the solutions that are most needed around the issue of suicide. In my opening comments I talked about settler colonialism and said there's been a colonial conditioning out of the Indian Act system and within the residential school system.

We would not be here with the knowledge of reconciliation that we have today if it weren't for people like Ken Young and the residential school survivors who shouldered the responsibility to convey what the issues were and what happened to them.

One of those things was that these children—our grandparents, our aunties, uncles, our mothers and fathers—were ripped apart, and not just from their families, but from their communities. We know that for sure; there is no question about it. Having that identity put back in place, the languages, the connection to the land, the customs, the traditions, is so much part of the solution. That has never been done in the past.

I think we have to get back to this notion of a community-based response to that exercise. You will find that our first nation people will trust more those who have gone through a healing process, who have actually dealt with family violence, who have actually come through that horrific time in their life, and who have said, “Do you know what? Things aren't what I want them to be, but they're a lot better than what they were before.”

The healing of our individual community members, as well as the families, and the connection to the land and utilizing the land in that healing process is so vital, and it's so obvious now.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Earlier you raised a sheet of paper and said that this was your plan and that you just needed it funded. Does that plan include the reduction of crime, the reduction of violence, and the rebuilding of families? If it does, can you outline that a little bit for us?

[Chief Isadore Day]

This work here talks about community comprehensive planning. Within that community, safety is obviously going to be a focus. Each community will have community safety needs. I must underscore as well that we have other line ministries and mandates within the federal government that are going to have to be involved. Community safety and policing is going to have to be an important aspect and element to this.

Community safety as well has to do with infrastructure and having the proper recreation in our communities that creates an enhanced quality of life. I must say that what we're looking at here is the community planning and a community-based process where people all get on the same page, where we employ mental health services at the community level, and we mobilize and we start to create a sense of efficacy in the community, so that the community can move forward as a whole.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

We're out of time. We're over time in fact. You got extras today.

Gary has given his time to Michael McLeod.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Thank you to the chief and Mr. Young for coming here today. I appreciate the work you've done in trying to rebuild communities and aboriginal people in them, as we try to find ways to move forward.

Like Mr. Young, I also went to a residential school and spent a few years in residence. For the most part, almost all the young children of the day in the Northwest Territories went to residential school. That's still very recent. That's still very much in the minds of a lot of the people there. Either they're residential school survivors, or they're children of residential school survivors. We see it in the lack of parenting skills. We see it in the lack of being able to hunt and fish like their parents or grandparents, or our grandparents, could, and the loss of language. We see it in a lot of areas, and all those losses need to be addressed. We also see it in the area of addictions. There are so many people in the aboriginal communities that are struggling with addictions. I would bet that if we went and started one by one in analyzing the root cause of their addictions, you'll see it's as a result of trauma. It's post-traumatic stress, and a lot of it is from residential schools.

The national chief had indicated there should be a national strategy on suicide prevention, and the strategy should include adequate mental health supports, recreation facilities, and education. He also talked about reconnecting on the cultural side of things. I think there is a cultural disconnect that's causing a lot of problems.

You've talked about your plan. Do you agree that there is a need for a national strategy, first of all, and does it reflect what you are talking about also?