I have an individual who has a master's in social work, and she's living in Kenora. I employ them during the summer to do my culture camps—a four-day culture camp—and in her case as a counsellor for the young students.
When you do a culture camp with a young group and listen to some of the things they've gone through in present day—not the generations before them, but in present day—about sexual abuse on a reserve, abuse on the reserve, lack of certain things on the reserve, it's very troubling.
As for the suicide rates, I believe that had the culture not been put in a delayed mode and pushed underground the way it was for so many years.... It's making a resurgence now, but it's going to take a long, long time. Elders, when they teach the young people about suicide, say you're doing something that the Creator doesn't support you on. The Creator lets you know when he wants you. If you take your own life, you are caught between the next world and the world you're in now, so you roam.