Madam Speaker, as always, it is a great honour to rise in this incredible chamber. For me, today is a day of great joy and hope as I see how we have come together. I see it as very telling. In the very first emergency debate this Parliament held, parliamentarians from every region of the country came together to discuss the horrific dark night of the Attawapiskat youth suicide crisis.
It was the first act of this Parliament, but we have unfinished business. It is so powerful that we are here today, to come full circle, to say that the rates of death of people in our country from hopelessness from mental illness is unacceptable.
What we have learned today is that suicide does not respect political boundaries. It does not respect the boundaries of faith. It does not live in urban or rural areas. It is not for rich or for poor. It affects every community. Every death is like a psychic emotional shockwave that tears families and communities apart. It leaves the bereaved wondering what they could have done.
Outside this building, activists, mental health workers and people are standing and saying that there is reason for hope. It is our obligation, as legislators, to join them in ensuring we have a framework. We know frameworks and action plans work. We can look to Quebec for this. Quebec is a world model. Its youth suicide rate has dropped by 50%. Imagine what that would mean in the rest of the country. ITK now has a suicide plan? We should have a national suicide plan. We are bringing in a suicide plan to respond to the military, which is we need, but we need one for everyone.
Earlier this winter, when I was in Thunder Bay, I received a call at 11 o'clock at night to go to a hotel. Sol Mamakwa, the provincial member, asked if I would go with him. There had been a death of a 14-year-old girl. I did not know the community, but he asked if I could go and pay my respects. We went to the third floor of the hotel. We gave our condolences, starting with the classmates, then the neighbours, the third cousins, the second cousins and down to family members. We then walked into that room at the moment people were talking about taking that little girl's body home from the hospital. When we tried to give our condolences, the only thing they could say was they had lost so many.
How is it possible that a country with as many resources, hope and skill as Canada can leave its young to die? As parliamentarians, we need to respond to that question. We are not just there to say sorry for people's losses. We are there to say that their child, or husband or cousin was loved, but just were not sure he or she was loved. We can love people as a society and individuals, but as a nation, we have the obligation to put in place the tools to ensure that when people are hopeless and in their darkest hour that there will be support for them if they make that call. If they are looking for those resources, they will be there. As well, as parliamentarians, we need to ensure we are tracking the hot spots and danger points so we can start to move in and put the resources on the ground.
We learned in Attawapiskat, Neskantaga and in so many other communities that it is not good enough to wait until the crisis hits. Proactive engagement and working with communities across the country gives people a sense that their lives have meaning and dignity and that they will not take that dark path. This is the opportunity before Parliament.
For all the smut and corruption we debate on a daily basis, to have begun this Parliament talking about this issue and ended it trying to make a change, we can go home and say that for all the other things we have failed on, we all came together on this one. It is going to make a difference.
