Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I just want to add that I'm very happy to hear about the programs first nations people have in place. They sound wonderful. I would love to be part of those models. We would love to have some of those implemented ourselves, as our programs are only ones that government runs.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is Sylvia.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd like to answer.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. It's difficult for me to know if I can answer or not. Thank you for prompting me when I can. Actually, I'd like to thank you for that question. My recommendation is that we will take anything we can get. We need mental health counselling by our own people, so our peer

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We have to pay for health services and there's no reimbursement. Think how helpless you must feel as a young person to have no hope, that you have no choice but to kill yourself. You're helplessly pushed into a corner where you have nothing and you know nothing will ever get bett

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd like to answer.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There certainly are because we Métis are one of the three indigenous groups that have no health care at all. We have absolutely nothing, nothing for dental and nothing for mental health. We can't go to mental health, unless it's free. We have to find free programs, otherwise we h

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The Métis have always been left out and virtually ignored. We have no resources and a lack recognition as indigenous people, other than saying under section 35 that we are part of the three indigenous groups. But things are improving for us. The Métis Nation of Alberta signed an

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In the north many children have used suicide to solve their problems. It's not a problem-solver. We need healthy people contributing to our society. I know that if there were resources some of these people would be alive today. We've done surveys. For some reason there are many

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Pretty much all youth have a cellphone with access to Facebook and things like that. As you said, there's a lot of bullying on Facebook. There's a lot of peer pressure. There are also a lot of inappropriate things that are said and put up on Facebook. It reaches everybody in our

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Regarding sexual abuse, of course, with Métis youth and Métis people, we live here in the bush in northern Alberta, and health services are not very prevalent here. The specialized services that we would like to utilize are a six-hour drive north. This means

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We also have young men who suffer the same thing. There's a fear of the police and who to trust, who to trust with this and be safe with it. We believe we need resources to identify this very serious issue, which leads to suicide and other things.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would just like to apologize for not being able to get there. I could not get out of Grande Prairie with flights, and then after Grande Prairie, I couldn't get out of Calgary, so I just thought, well, I might as well give up and come back home. It's minus 40 here today. I woul