Thank you for the opportunity for Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak to speak to the committee today on experiences of mental health for Métis women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse people.
I'm speaking to you from the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people here in Ottawa, but I actually live in the Treaty 6 territory and the mother of the Métis land in Edmonton, Alberta.
Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak works to ensure that Métis women from across the motherland are safe, connected and empowered and have the capacity to create the conditions for healthy and vibrant communities throughout the Métis nation.
Métis women are the heart of the Métis nation, and we envision a world where they are able to live in safety and free from violence, enjoying the same standards of safety, security, justice, health and wellness afforded to others.
Compared to non-indigenous people in Canada, indigenous people experience mental health issues at disproportionate rates, often with greater severity of symptoms. Indigenous people, including survivors of the residential school systems and their descendants, experience higher rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, substance abuse and behaviours related to suicide.
Yesterday, we were reviewing some pre-COVID statistics from 2018 with our Métis Nation British Columbia governing committee on the state of mental health in Métis youth in British Columbia. In the study, 47% of female Métis youth reported that they were experiencing anxiety—and this is all pre-COVID—35% of Métis youth reported experiencing depression, and 31% of female Métis youth reported serious consideration of suicide.
These statistics are alarming, and given the impact of the pandemic on mental health, we anticipate that the same mental health issues for Métis youth have even increased and been further exacerbated. We know that long-term COVID research is being done as to the effects on the mental health of our people, and many of our people have suffered from COVID.
Especially in the context of MMIWG, Métis women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse people have experienced severe forms of abuse, trauma and personal violence. Call to action number 19 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called upon the government to close the gap in health outcomes between aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities, including suicide, mental health and addiction. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls also found a need for increased funding and support for holistic services and programming in areas including trauma, addictions, treatment, and mental health services.
It's important to note that for many indigenous people, mental and emotional well-being is also tied to social, cultural, spiritual, environmental and political well-being. Health is a holistic concept. It encompasses the well-being of ourselves, our families, our communities, and our nation. In this way, the mental health of our women, girls, and gender-diverse people is intimately interwoven and connected to the well-being of our families and our communities.
For Métis communities, the social determinants of health are not just social; they are political and historical. They are structural determinants of health. The impacts of colonialism, such as the intergenerational trauma of residential schools, the sixties scoop and other issues, have ripped people from their culture and the culture that presents our path to healing.
In working with Métis survivors of trauma, violence, abuse and neglect, we know that connection to culture and community strengthens opportunities for healing. Working with elders, spending time on the land, harvesting medicines, weaving and beading are all activities where culture itself becomes mental health care.
Understanding the importance of culture and identity is a necessary step in decolonizing mental health care. Beyond a pan-indigenous approach, incorporating Métis values such as kinship ties, faith, spirituality, storytelling and traditional knowledge in trauma-informed care is needed to truly support healing in our communities.
To this end, LFMO has developed “Weaving Miskotahâ”, with 62 calls to miskotahâ, which means “change” in our language. In this report, we identified the need for a Métis nation healing and wellness resources foundation, to provide immediate and long-term supports to women, survivors and families, as well as the need for system navigators to work with Métis women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people and their families, and—