Suicide in Aboriginal People in Canada - Coursework Example

Suicide in Aboriginal people in Canada Introduction Suicide is a term whose definition is not easy to interpret and apply in research studies and this makes the official records where the deaths that are a result of suicide and all other deaths to be inaccurate, incomplete and in most of the cases lacking in the vital information that is needed to study the effect of social and cultural factors that are associated with suicide. Some forms of injury that the suicide victims inflict to themselves might worsen a disease that was pre-existing and this makes suicide difficult to differentiate from natural death. The term Aboriginal creates a perception that all of these people are the same culturally, but this is not the case in Canada. There is a lot of cultural variety in the Aboriginal people of Canada characterized by ten primary language groupings and over fifty eight dialects (Corley, 1984). Most of these communities experience issues that are of the same nature like cultural change but there are significant differences in the type and frequency of occurrence of these social and psychiatric problems. The highest numbers of suicide in the globe are recorded by the Aboriginal people in Canada but this is not the case for other aboriginal people in the world since there are many other groups of these people that have much lower rates of suicide. In the time before the Europeans arrived in the places that these people originally resided in, suicides rarely took place. With colonialism and the effects that came with it, suicide rates began to sour and the numbers have continued to rise. As at 2006, there were 1,172,790 people in Canada that were Aboriginal (Mayda, 2013) and by 2011 the number had increased to 1,400,685 which represented only 4.3% of the whole population of Canada. This was a twenty percent increase and more than half of the total number of the aboriginal people in Canada are not older than 25 (Statistics Canada, 2011). The distribution of the Aboriginal people in terms of geography is different from that of the general Canadian population and is largely in the rural areas. Approximately seventy percent of the people that perceive themselves as being of Native origin live in reserves and settlements and the Aboriginal people that live outside the reserves are considered to be more mobile than the other Canadians while those that reside in the reserves are relatively less mobile. The women have a higher likelihood to leave the reserve than the men do. In recent times, the migratory behavior of the Aboriginals in Canada has changed to urban-rural migration especially when women that are older are considered. Suicide among the Aboriginals in Canada Suicide in the Aboriginal people in Canada can be considered to be an evidence of the significant social problems that are these people go through. The rate of suicide which is associated with this group of people is almost 3 times the one identified with the entire population (Leenaars, 1998). Even though there has been concern from a variety of quarters about this disturbing statistics. Epidemiological data still lacks and ethno-cultural information on suicide and evaluation studies on the programs that can be initiated to intervene are also not in place. Suicide is generally more rampant in the young people that are between the ages of ten and twenty nine. The young Aboriginal youth that reside in the reserves are five times more prone to die as a result of suicide compared to the people of the same age in the general population. More than one third of the deaths that occur among the Aboriginal youth are associated and linked with suicide. The Aboriginal males are more likely to commit suicide than their female counterparts even though the latter make attempts more often. Suicide can be considered to be a behavior and therefore is not a specific psychiatric condition. Behavior is developed from the interactions of a variety of different historical, contextual as well as personal attributes and since suicide is a behavior, the same factors influence or affect it. It can be linked to a variety ofdiverse personal and societalissues among other causative factors. This means that suicide is as a result of combination of issues and not necessarily on general cause. In terms of prevention, the factors that contribute to a person committing suicide can be seen as the risk factors that increase the chances of behavior that is suicidal and the protective attributes that reduce these chances. These factors generally include: the social and physical environment, the temperament or development experiences of the individual, interpersonal relationships, psychiatric disorders as well as previous suicide attempts. The particular elements that affect the Aboriginal people are basically the same that s those that are seen in other communities. The only difference between them is the rate at which they take place and also the interrelationship between the factors. This is as a result of a past of colonization as well as the connections with societal and political association of the Canadian people that followed this (Elias, 1997). Many of the members that reside in the native reserves are related closely and generally share the same social issues and problems which make the impact and effect that comes from a single suicide among them to resonate across the entire community. As a result of the intimacy that is seen in this community, it can be said that the act of suicide is contagious and this can lead to a cluster of suicides. Suicide can be considered to be a pointer of agony in communities. This means that every time a person commits suicide, there are greater numbers of people that are depressed, suffer from anxiety, and other situations that leave them feeling entrapped, powerless and in despair. The suicides also affect the people in the community that are left behind who then start considering the issues that affect them and this can make them consider suicide themselves as a reaction to the event. The vicious circle that is characterized by sorrow and mourning after one of the people has committed suicide spirals outwards into the community. In the Aboriginal communities that are relatively small and where most of the people are related, and the people share histories, the effect of suicide may be extensive and severe. The dangerousattributes that are associated with suicide among the Aboriginal youngpeople are the same as the ones associated with suicide in the non-aboriginal population of the young citizens. These factors include despair, desperation, low sense of worth, drug and substance abuse, cases of suicide that have taken place before in the family among a long list of other factors. There are patterns that can be seen in both identified in both groups of the population as far as suicide is concerned which show that cases of severe depression contribute greatly to vulnerability to suicide and that crises that occur in life, abuse of drugs and other traits greatly influence suicide. Suicidal behavior affects a large number of young people that are of from some of the Aboriginal communities and may not affect others in the same way. This is an indication that social forces are at play at the different levels of the community and they should be considered to be of huge importance. Appreciating the effect that the bigger social factors have is thus central to the identification of the most vital contributors to suicide for the Aboriginal population that is in Canada. Prevalence The commonness of suicide attempts is often under-estimated in most of the cases since people are often unwilling to reveal the information about the problem and most of these attempts do not get medical attention. When the attempts get medical attention, there is a difficulty in trying to understand the intentions that lead to this kind of behavior. There are some cases where the youth may report minor acts that have no significant suicide possibility as attempts at suicide which then leads to an over-estimation. In 1995, the Royal Commission of the Aboriginal people gave its statement on suicide which showed that suicide was one of the urgent issues that affected this community. The report identified a number of problems that came up when that data that existed was used particularly for a number of reasons which make it underestimate the total picture. The collection of data had initially concentrated on the people that were registered and also status Indians as well as Inuit who lived in the Northwest Territories. It had particularly left out the non-status Indians, Métis and Inuit that did not reside in these areas. It was also hard to ascertain that suicide was the cause of death in some areas as it had been found that more than a quarter of all the deaths that the aboriginals report as accidental are in the real sense suicides that went unreported. The true rate of suicide was considered to be higher than the rate that was reported in the existing data but the Commission approximated that the rates across all the age groups of the aboriginal community were about three times higher than the rates that were recorded in the case of the non-aboriginal people. This figure was more than three times the figure that had been registered nationally. Adults and children of the aboriginal population were considered to be more prone to suicide but between the ages of 20 and 29, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal people registered the highest rates of suicide (Synnott, 1996). Contributing factors Four groups of the main risk factors that are linked to suicide can be pointed out: these are psycho-biological, situational, and socio-economic or caused by stress that emanates from culture. The aboriginal people are predominantly affected by stress that is associated with their culture. Mental disorders and illnesses that are linked with suicide include depression, anxiety disorders and schizophrenia but this are less documented as far as the aboriginal people are concerned. Their main problem, according the community health providers is sorrow that has been unresolved which is considered a psycho-biological problem. The factors that considered as being more pertinent are the situational factors that include the family life disruptions that come from the children being forced to attend boarding schools, adoption and hospitalizations for long term illnesses like tuberculosis. An increase in the use of alcohol and other drugs that were meant to relieve stress and unhappiness also leads to escalating cases of suicides among the Aboriginals and other people. In almost ninety percent of the cases were the aboriginal people have committed suicide, strains of alcohol have been found in the blood of the victims. Damage to the brain or states of paranoid psychosis that can be traced back to the consumption of solvents is also a major attribute in suicides by the youth. Factors that are both social and economic which include high rates of poverty, education levels that are low, lack of employment opportunities, insufficient housing and deficiencies in sanitation and the quality of water also have an impact on a significant number of the aboriginal people. These kinds of situations force the people that experience them to develop a feeling of despair and vulnerability that might lead to suicide cases. Culture stress points to a loss in self-belief in the manner of appreciating existence and living which have been imparted in a specific society. It develops when the complex of interaction, awareness, languages, social institutions, principles and the ethical rules that bind people and gives then identity is changed drastically. Issues such as loss of land and the control of their living conditions as well as containment of the belief systems and spirituality have significantly impacted on their self-assurance and therefore exposed them to suicide, self injury and other behaviors that are self destructive as a way out. Suicide Prevention The Royal Commission of the Aboriginal people realized that the suicide prevention measures that had originated from individual, community and regional determination had made considerable difference. Every initiative was considered to be distinct where directly at the prevention of suicide and others were wider in their scope and focused also on the causes and consequences of all behavior that was characterized by violence and self destruction. The commission identified six such programs that included efforts that were concentrated at the Wilkwemikong Reserve in Ontario, at the Big Cove Reserve in New Brunswick, in the Northwest Territories, in North End Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canim Lake in British Columbia as well as the communities that constituted the Meadow Lake Tribal Council in the northwestern Saskachewan (Chenier, 1995). The efforts that were going on in Wikwemikong were initiated in the mid-1970s when there was a total of seven suicides that had taken place in a small section of the community. After an inquest and research into what had transpired, two services agencies that operated locally were allocated funds to deal with the problem. The Rainbow lodge which operated as a non-medical alcohol and drug management centre was set up and Wikwemikong Counseling Service was started to work as an autonomous psychological health support centre (Chenier, 1995). The establishment of these facilities coupled with an increased awareness, a combined responsibility and the development that was witnessed by the community were the factors that were responsible for building the psychological stability currently enjoyed by the community. After seven suicides and 75 attempted suicides were reported at Big Cove in 1992, there was an inquest that came up with the suggestion that drugs and alcohol be restricted, jobs are created, mental health services be introduced in the reserves on a permanent basis and the communities that live in this areas allowed to move towards self-governance (Chenier, 1995). Limitations to solutions The aboriginals themselves as well as other factors act as the barriers to change in that the leaders of the community are more interested in the economic development and the prospect of self-government than the social problems that are responsible for the increasing rates of suicides (Chenier, 1995). The aboriginal people also consider the events and risk factors that are linked with suicides to be attributes that are shameful and should therefore be kept secret while the adults fail to take their place as the role models for the young people. There are also conflict s and rivalries that exist between the different communities that also hinder actions that are aimed at reducing these rates. On the other hand, the control that the non-aboriginal have over the key programs and resources has generated minimal response to the pleas for prevention programs that are long term while the emergency measures that are instituted are sometimes lack coordination. Another limitation to that are instituted to reduce the rates of suicide among the aboriginal people is that there no complete, nation-wide mental health policy and access to the programs that are available is not balance which results from confusion due to inadequate information and training resources. The Royal Commission for the Aboriginal People came up with the Framework for Action which advocated for a response to suicide in the community that was in three parts that was to cover the whole country (Chenier, 1995). It entailed the creation of direct suicide crisis services, the provision of resources for broad preventive action through the development of the community as the encouragement of support through, self-sufficiency, healing and reconciliation. This technique has its basis on seven attributes that include: cultural and spiritual renewal; strengthening of family and community bonds; focus on children and youth; holism; participation by the entire community; joint venture and community control. Conclusion It is clear that the action that is aimed at preventing suicides cannot wait for a research that will be definitive and at the same time, there is urgent call for research that is evaluative of the approaches that are meant to intervene in the Aboriginal communities. There is a probability that some the actions that are taken towards intervention and are well-intentioned might be the source of more harm in the long run. These means that approaches that are created and driven by the community, adapted fully by the community and intended to help the whole community to embraced the community created programs for intervention should be developed. Research that is aimed at understanding the issues that are associated with the suicides that take place among the Aboriginals should also continue. This will in the long run help to identify better ways that can be employed to prevent and decrease the rates of suicides. References Chenier, N. M. (1995). Suicide Among Aboriginal People: Royal Commission Report (MR131e). [online] Retrieved from: http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/researchpublications/mr131-e.htm [Accessed: 3 Apr 2014]. Corley, N. T. (1984). Resources for native peoples studies. Ottawa: Resources Survey Division, Collections Development Branch, National Library Of Canada. Elias, P. D. (1997). Models of aboriginal communities in canada's north. International Journal of Social Economics, 24(11), 1241-1255. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/274679986?accountid=45049 Leenaars, A. A. (1998). Suicide in Canada. Toronto [Ont.]: University Of Toronto Press. Mayda, C. (2013). A regional geography of the United States and Canada. Lanham, [Md.]: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Statistics Canada. (2011). Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: First Nations People, Métis and Inuit. [online] Retrieved from: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-011-x/99- 011-x2011001-eng.cfm [Accessed: 3 Apr 2014]. Synnott, A. (1996). Shadows. Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice-Hall Canada. Read More