Thank you for inviting me on behalf of the Aboriginal Firefighters Association of Canada. We're glad that we got an opportunity to present some information that we have on our first nations first responders. Of course, I deal with mainly the firefighters, the fire departments, the structural firefighters within the first nations communities of Canada.
My name is Richard Kent, and I am the acting president of the Aboriginal Firefighters Association of Canada. We represent the interests of Canada’s first nations firefighters.
In 2015, a study paper on mental health was produced by the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, by Sherry Bellamy and Cindy Hardy. The study was entitled “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Aboriginal People in Canada: Review of Risk Factors, the Current State of Knowledge and Directions for Further Research”. The indicators are that aboriginal people in Canada are more likely than non-aboriginal people to experience traumatic events in their lifetimes, including historical, collective, and individual trauma. Demographic, individual, and environmental factors such as being female, stressful living conditions, poverty, and violence all contribute to increased risk for developing PTSD in aboriginal populations. In addition to the review of potential risk factors, the paper overviews the current knowledge, prevalence, health impacts, resilience, and treatment options of PTSD within an aboriginal context.
The paper’s summary states:
Even though Canada is recognized as a country in which citizens enjoy a high standard of living, many health and lifestyle benefits are not extended to all Aboriginal peoples. There is general consensus among researchers investigating the health of Aboriginal peoples that historical and intergenerational trauma have resulted in collective psychological and emotional injury that has directly and indirectly led to considerable distress among Aboriginal peoples. Today, Aboriginal peoples in Canada are more likely than non-Aboriginal people to experience traumatic events in their lifetimes. In addition, they are at increased risk of developing PTSD as a result of historical, collective and individual trauma, compounded by stressful current living conditions resulting from high levels of poverty and abuse. It is crucial that more culturally appropriate services are made available to Aboriginal peoples in all communities across Canada. Further research is needed to investigate cultural factors that foster resilience in order to understand the complex interactions between risk and resilience in Aboriginal communities. Interventions that honour Aboriginal holistic values and traditions and promote resilience factors that are already present in Aboriginal culture are most likely to be met with success. Further, there is a need to develop and implement interventions and treatment programs that aim to heal families and communities as these types of interventions are most likely to foster improved health and well-being collectively, and thus reduce some of the environmental factors that work to reinforce and perpetuate trauma within communities. The protection of future generations is dependent on healthy families and communities.
In my own limited research into post-traumatic stress disorder in relation to Canada’s first nations emergency responders, I could find no information that was specific to them. But what I do know, after being in the fire service for 35 years, is that responding to traumatic situations is very stressful in itself.
When we look at Canada’s first nations emergency responders, we must be aware that the people they respond to who need their help are more often than not friends, relatives, or acquaintances.
Our first nations communities are very close-knit communities where everyone tends to know everyone. This definitely adds to the emotional injuries that they will be suffering from.