Native American Suicide Rates

The social issue that I would like to address as a social worker is the epidemic of indigenous youth suicide in Canada. On the macro level, I believe this issue can be understood through two fundamental components: the residual effects of colonization trauma passed through generations and the effects of current colonial-based, neo-liberal institutional actions on indigenous youth.

American Indians have the highest suicide rates in Montana and make up 7% of the population (Uken, 2012, p. 3). The high unemployment and substance abuse is shown to be a major factor (Uken, 2012, p. 3).There is a shortage of employment all over Montana, not just pertaining to the reservations. This shortage and not having enough mental healthcare professionals to cover all of the small towns in Montana, limits people being seen and treated (Uken, 2012, p.4,para.6).

Among NA/AN adults, this rate is 75% higher than that of the general population. Suicide is not isolated to NA/AN adults – among NA/AN youth, the rates of death due to suicide are double the general population, and NA/AN teens experience the highest rate of suicide of any population group in America. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among NA/ANs aged 15 to 24. On a standardized survey, fifteen percent of students in schools located on Native American reservations in 2010 reported having attempted suicide in the prior year. Among youth, the most common reasons for attempting suicide were feelings of hopelessness or despair, bleak future prospects, domestic trouble, and bullying. There is concern among some mental health professionals that suicide is having a contagion-like effect in some communities and schools – feeling neglected, youth can be attracted to the displays of mourning that follow a death; and once they hear about the method of suicide, they imitate it. Sadly, in some communities, suicide attempts have become commonplace and a normal part of daily

Aboriginal people represent less than 3% of the total population in BC. Yet, they account for more than 9% of all suicides in BC (Chandler). The numbers of suicides amongst aboriginal youth are even more alarming – nearly one-fourth of all youth suicides in BC are committed by aboriginals and more than half of all aboriginal suicides are committed by youth (Chandler). The fact that indigenous communities in Canada have the highest rate of suicide of any culturally identifiable group in the world implies that these alarming statistics may not solely be a result of aboriginal communities belonging to a minority cultural group. I will attempt to build a speculative hypothesis behind the significantly high suicide rates amongst aboriginal

The rate of suicide among aboriginal Canadians is three times higher than that of the general population, and the rate for Inuit youth is eleven times higher than the national average. These are some alarming

urrently in the news, Alexandra Sifferlin from Time Magazine has released a new health issue article on, “Suicide Rates High among Young American Indians” (2015). The article discusses how suicide rates are high in American Indian and Alaskan Native, between the ages of 18-24, than any other demographic groups. In addition, research done by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, has revealed that young adult males are more likely to commit suicide than females. Leaders from the National Congress of American Indian are in the process on creating a Tribal Behavioral Health Agenda approach in order to prevent and reduce the number of deaths by suicide in their population.

The Centre for Suicide Prevention, also known as the CSP is an education centre with the largest known English language library devoted to the collection and publication of suicide prevention and intervention resources. They provide many different resources on the topic of suicide with information in risk factors, stats, programs and more. This source perfectly fits my chosen topic. This article was published in June 2013, which was fairly recent, therefore it being relevant to my research. I decided to select this source because it gave me exactly what I was looking for in order to have a successful research paper. It will be most helpful to the concrete data of my essay. This article gives an anthropological view on suicide within the Aboriginal community. This article was able to give an insight on how Aboriginals were alienated and taken away from their culture, therefore causing

Though the Indian Reservations were created so long ago, the quality of life has barely changed. It is extremely poor. So poor, in fact, that they are likened to developing countries. 60% of children are born out of wedlock and Native Americans are the third highest group in the country for teenage pregnancy. The suicide rate of Native American teenagers is three times that of the rest of America.

Veterans, compared to the U.S. population, have a higher risk of suicide. Suicide is a major public health concern, with suicide being the 11th leading cause of death across all ages and the seventh leading cause of death in males. Depression, PTSD, substance use disorders, access to firearms, and a history of self-harm or suicide attempts are factors that place veterans at higher risk for suicide. The increased risk for suicide among veterans has been brought to public attention, which has lead The Department of Veteran Affairs to announce the prevention of suicide to be a major national priority. In response to the increase in suicide rates, the Department of Veteran Affairs has created a comprehensive suicide prevention efforts and has collaborated with the of Defense (DoD) to develop a clinical practice guideline based on best available evidence and expert consensus (Chapman & Ibrahim, 2015).

Suicide among Aboriginal youth has been occurring at an alarming rate in the recent years. Statistics show that the Aboriginal suicide rate is two to three times higher than the non-Aboriginal suicide rate for Canada, and within the ‘youth’ age group, the Aboriginal suicide rate is estimated to be five to six times higher than that of non-Aboriginal youth (Health Canada 2003). Although I do not think it is possible to come to a definitive single answer as to why suicide rates in Aboriginal communities are higher than in non-Aboriginal areas, it is worth exploring the possible reasons as to why this could be the case. This may include discussing the health care offered to those identifying as Aboriginal, looking at population censuses, and other

Suicide is prevalent amongst Native American youth because of all the problems they may face. They face problems in many different ways and they think their only way out is to commit suicide. Based on the text, it states, “But lack of resources to treat mental health problems, substance abuse and family turmoil have an effect too, Wagner said. "There is this feeling of being trapped, and having nowhere to go"”(Newsela). This shows that the Native Americans have some problems that they think they can’t overcome. The reservations don’t have as many organizations to help and prevent suicide. Some Native Americans who go to school say that the teachers are being hard on them, but the teachers don’t know what is happening at home. They face problems at home with their family.

Seeing that youth suicide rates amongst Aboriginal youth are five to seven times higher than non-Aboriginal youth, and Inuit youth are among the highest in the world, at 11 times the national average, there are several contributing attributes that should be further researched. (Health Canada, 2013) One of the contributing factors that are discussed in many Aboriginal courses is that of identity. Aboriginal youth who face high levels of intergenerational trauma due to the RS system often find themselves distanced from Aboriginal culture, without their mother tongue, and western culture. This alongside the negative portrayals of Indigenous peoples within media many times go much deeper to factors beyond an individual 's control and end up as a common root cause of suicide. One way for the federal government can combat this particular factor is through the emplacement of acknowledgment initiatives. Trying to reduce negative stigmas and stereotypes as well, to educate, can help promote healthy self-esteem and confidence levels within Aboriginal youth and result in the prevention of high suicide levels amongst Aboriginal youth. (CITE)

Suicide prevention is an important topic to be discussed in academia as suicide has become a big social problem affecting the lives of the individual and the surrounding people. Suicide can be looked as an act of selfishness, consequently leaves perplexity among family and friends, but from a sociological perspective, it is a multifaceted issue. The article from the Current, brought into light how the Indigenous community Canada have higher rates of suicide compared to the general population, especially amongst the youth. The feeling of anomie and experience of racism puts immense stress on aboriginal youths, and this experience is replicated in the sociological imagination of the history and biography of Indigenous people.

I believe that increasing the autonomy that individual Indigenous communities have over their health care system needs to happen to incorporate all the diverse Indigenous cultures. We have seen in this class that when it comes to Indigenous peoples health issues’ need to be addressed by whole cultural communities rather than dealing with one individual wounds (Chandler & Dunlop, 2015). This is largely due to the shared cultural wounds communities have from colonization, residential schooling, and dispossession of knowledge (Wexler, 2016). For example, diabetes prevalence rates amongst Indigenous peoples across Canada have increased by 70% over the past 15 years (Martin, 2016). However, prior to the 1980s there was no reported incidences of diabetes for Inuit peoples and none for First Nations prior to the 1950s (Martin, 2016). Similarly, in Northwest Alaska, where suicide is a big issue amongst the Indigenous communities, there were no recorded youth suicides until the 1960s (Wexler, 2016). Therefore, allowing communities to make their own decisions would also prevent a potential mistake of painting all Indigenous communities in Canada with the same brush to arrive at a one-size-fits-all approach (Chandler & Dunlop, 2015).

The difference in suicide rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians exists because of the stereotypical treatment towards aboriginals. Since the early ages of the British settlements Aboriginals have been enslaved and treated as the lower class. This has changed as there is no more slavery however the non-indigenous attitudes towards the indigenous is still bad and this can lead to depression and then suicide