Research on Suicide Crisis in Pikangikum

The Ontario Chief Coroner’s Office is releasing some startling research on a rash of suicides in Pikangikum First Nation.
Between 2006 and 2008, 16 young people, aged 10 to 19, killed themselves in the community north of Red Lake.
Deputy Chief Coroner for Ontario Doctor Bert Lauwers says education is key to tackling the problem.
Lauwers says a crisis intervention team should be put in place after a youth suicide to identify vulnerable children and provide them with immediate counselling.
The community’s only school burned down in 2007 and the government has not yet rebuilt it.