Nunavut is in a mental health crisis

[Canadensia]

Eh, being poor is a matter of perspective. You aren't really poor if you already have everything you want; even if it's just an igloo, your tribe, some hunting tools and your trusty kayak.

Regardless, yes, the issue is historical, but not in the way you probably think. Most contact with white traders wasn't terribly damaging, and in fact was quite desired and profitable for the Inuit. The only minor problem was the sale of alcohol, which the Inuit as well as most aboriginal tribesmen became addicted to, but that was a problem which they were more than capable of solving themselves.

The issue came about with the rise of residential schools, which separated entire generations of aboriginal children from their families, broke up the ancient social fabric and largely destroyed aboriginal cultures. The schools are now gone, thankfully, but the lasting cultural problems they left behind haven't been dealt with.

The US has a similar problem with many Native Americans who live in reservations becoming addicted to alcohol.

It's a shame, really, since the current situation was entirely avoidable.

Doubly so considering how the solution, while no doubt taking time, wouldn't be all that difficult or costly to implement.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

The US has a similar problem with many Native Americans who live in reservations becoming addicted to alcohol.

It's a shame, really, since the current situation was entirely avoidable.

Doubly so considering how the solution, while no doubt taking time, wouldn't be all that difficult or costly to implement.

There is a huge initiative, for what I gathered from Nunatsiaq News, regarding suicide prevention in the Inuit communities: the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy. For the info I keep coming up across on Google, the strategy seems to be paying off: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/na ... e37760101/, although the rates are still rather high.

[Canadensia]

It's a shame, really, since the current situation was entirely avoidable.

Doubly so considering how the solution, while no doubt taking time, wouldn't be all that difficult or costly to implement.

There is a huge initiative, for what I gathered from Nunatsiaq News, regarding suicide prevention in the Inuit communities: the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy. For the info I keep coming up across on Google, the strategy seems to be paying off: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/na ... e37760101/, although the rates are still rather high.

That's great news, I wasn't aware of that.

It's especially promising when the Inuit and RCMP are working together, given their past difficulties.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

There is a huge initiative, for what I gathered from Nunatsiaq News, regarding suicide prevention in the Inuit communities: the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy. For the info I keep coming up across on Google, the strategy seems to be paying off: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/na ... e37760101/, although the rates are still rather high.

That's great news, I wasn't aware of that.

It's especially promising when the Inuit and RCMP are working together, given their past difficulties.

That it is. Seems like the Inuit community is also hopeful regarding the strategy and they have seen some reduction in the suicide rate, but it's still rather high. However it is good that they're working together with the gov't in order to change things. It's a real shame the Inuit are suffering this way.

[United Citizens of North America]

Sauce
Sad to see there territorial government failing at mental health.

With this and the recent van attack in Toronto we can see a need that no party at a federal level is fulfilling: a call for mental health.

More expansive health federal healthcare guidelines making it clear that people on social programs for mental health disabilities should get more money. Perhaps paying for drugs like Prozac on a federal scale would also help.

What say you NSG?

I think mental health can be a short term solution, but economic investment in Nunavut would be much more helpful in the long run. The same solutions could provide help to the NAs in the US who are going through a similar situation.

[Sovaal]

The US has a similar problem with many Native Americans who live in reservations becoming addicted to alcohol.

It's a shame, really, since the current situation was entirely avoidable.

Doubly so considering how the solution, while no doubt taking time, wouldn't be all that difficult or costly to implement.

Aye, however our anscestors decided to drive us onto this path. Only thing we can do is try to fix it.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

It's a shame, really, since the current situation was entirely avoidable.

Doubly so considering how the solution, while no doubt taking time, wouldn't be all that difficult or costly to implement.

Aye, however our anscestors decided to drive us onto this path. Only thing we can do is try to fix it.

What I don't understand is how was it deemed good/beneficial to divide children from their families at res schools? What was the ''logic'' behind that?

[Oil exporting People]

Living in the middle of fucking nowhere where its constantly cold and most of the local fauna wants to eat you if given the chance will do that to a person.

[LimaUniformNovemberAlpha]

Next, make psychology and psychiatry electives in high school (or equivalent) education.

It didn't catch on when psychology was almost as relevant to future doctors and nurses as the biology courses they had to take in high school, and much more so than, let's say, Shakespeare. It's almost as if people's real reason or not putting it in was fear that it was biased and/or wrong about some things, rather than necessarily irrelevant. I'm not sure this will change that.

As for Nunavut, why not relocate them to various regions across the country, so that they will be more influenced by the mentally-healthier people around them, and less influenced by each other?

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Next, make psychology and psychiatry electives in high school (or equivalent) education.

It didn't catch on when psychology was almost as relevant to future doctors and nurses as the biology courses they had to take in high school, and much more so than, let's say, Shakespeare. It's almost as if people's real reason or not putting it in was fear that it was biased and/or wrong about some things, rather than necessarily irrelevant. I'm not sure this will change that.

As for Nunavut, why not relocate them to various regions across the country, so that they will be more influenced by the mentally-healthier people around them, and less influenced by each other?

The issue doesn't seem to be the weather or geography as I thought (although the isolation doesn't help). It's traumatic history. The changes from hunter to salaried society was hard, not to mention alcoholism and other issues. Relocating them is probably not going to take care of the trauma. Besides, there has been already a reduction in their suicide rates. They're high still, but with the Prevention Strategy in place, the Inuit and the government are making headway into the problem.

[Evil Dictators Happyland]

The US has a similar problem with many Native Americans who live in reservations becoming addicted to alcohol.

I remember reading about this issue before, but it was about Greenlanders (Greenlandics? Whatever) instead of US natives. The conclusions drawn were that the culture there didn't have alcohol to any significant degree before they were suddenly inundated with it, and then it set off an effect that even people today are still struggling with.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

The US has a similar problem with many Native Americans who live in reservations becoming addicted to alcohol.

I remember reading about this issue before, but it was about Greenlanders (Greenlandics? Whatever) instead of US natives. The conclusions drawn were that the culture there didn't have alcohol to any significant degree before they were suddenly inundated with it, and then it set off an effect that even people today are still struggling with.

I read about some research done by a Swedish university about the Greenlander Inuit who were also committing suicide at higher rates, but in that case, they were blaming the midnight summer sunlight for it. Probably lack of sleep.

But yes, the problem with alcoholism is a pronounced one among native populations and, no doubt, also a factor in the high suicide rates.

[LimaUniformNovemberAlpha]

It didn't catch on when psychology was almost as relevant to future doctors and nurses as the biology courses they had to take in high school, and much more so than, let's say, Shakespeare. It's almost as if people's real reason or not putting it in was fear that it was biased and/or wrong about some things, rather than necessarily irrelevant. I'm not sure this will change that.

As for Nunavut, why not relocate them to various regions across the country, so that they will be more influenced by the mentally-healthier people around them, and less influenced by each other?

The issue doesn't seem to be the weather or geography as I thought (although the isolation doesn't help). It's traumatic history. The changes from hunter to salaried society was hard, not to mention alcoholism and other issues. Relocating them is probably not going to take care of the trauma. Besides, there has been already a reduction in their suicide rates. They're high still, but with the Prevention Strategy in place, the Inuit and the government are making headway into the problem.

Just because it's not the geography, doesn't mean relocation can't help.

How do suicide rates among the indigenous in Toronto compare?

[Pope Joan]

People who live in extreme cold climate with no sun for half the year tend to get more severely depressed than the rest of the world. This can lead to suicide and alcoholism, crime, and domestic violence.
The answer is close communal networks of support, not government programs. This at least was what I was told by an Inuit police officer from that area.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

The issue doesn't seem to be the weather or geography as I thought (although the isolation doesn't help). It's traumatic history. The changes from hunter to salaried society was hard, not to mention alcoholism and other issues. Relocating them is probably not going to take care of the trauma. Besides, there has been already a reduction in their suicide rates. They're high still, but with the Prevention Strategy in place, the Inuit and the government are making headway into the problem.

Just because it's not the geography, doesn't mean relocation can't help.

How do suicide rates among the indigenous in Toronto compare?

Maybe. However, if the issues that are contributing to high suicide rates are embedded into the societal fabric of the Inuit in Nunavut, merely relocating them doesn't do much as they take that with them.

The problem is that the rates are for Inuit, not First Nations in other parts of Canada. The Inuit of Greenland also have a similar problem with high suicide rates.

[North Caucasian Emirates]

The US has a similar problem with many Native Americans who live in reservations becoming addicted to alcohol.

It's a shame, really, since the current situation was entirely avoidable.

Doubly so considering how the solution, while no doubt taking time, wouldn't be all that difficult or costly to implement.

The same also holds true for Indigenous Australians, as does drug use. You might see a lot of memes about Aboriginals abusing inhalants if you know which terms to enter on Google Images, but I do not recommend doing so at school, at work, or in public. Point being, it's quite sad, and my personal theory—disclaimer: I am not an expert, nor do I claim to be—is that, due to the recency of contact with European settlers, Native Americans, Inuits, and Australian and Canadian Aboriginals have not had sufficient time to be able to find ways to cope with alcohol's impact on their culture. Such an impact has—for millennia—been mitigated by lengthy periods of time dedicated to refinement of alcohol, cultural mores on levels of drinking being acceptable at which situation and whatnot, and also they did not have the break-up of their cultural fabric, as Canadensia and Nanatsu No Tsuki have previously elaborated on. Like the Canadian Aboriginals and Inuit, Australian Aboriginals abided by the "it takes a village to raise a child" in the literal sense, in that all members of an extended family participate in child-rearing; like the reservation schools in Canada, the Stolen Generation of Australia involved mixed-race Aboriginal children being taken away from their families—many of which would have been the product of the rape of Aboriginal women—and their social fabric was thus badly-damaged as a result. And so—taking all of that into account—alcohol, drugs, nails, and the like are a way of coping; though such a way of coping is far from perfect, but do they know any other way?

[Sovaal]

It's a shame, really, since the current situation was entirely avoidable.

Doubly so considering how the solution, while no doubt taking time, wouldn't be all that difficult or costly to implement.

The same also holds true for Indigenous Australians, as does drug use. You might see a lot of memes about Aboriginals abusing inhalants if you know which terms to enter on Google Images, but I do not recommend doing so at school, at work, or in public. Point being, it's quite sad, and my personal theory—disclaimer: I am not an expert, nor do I claim to be—is that, due to the recency of contact with European settlers, Native Americans, Inuits, and Australian and Canadian Aboriginals have not had sufficient time to be able to find ways to cope with alcohol's impact on their culture. Such an impact has—for millennia—been mitigated by lengthy periods of time dedicated to refinement of alcohol, cultural mores on levels of drinking being acceptable at which situation and whatnot, and also they did not have the break-up of their cultural fabric, as Canadensia and Nanatsu No Tsuki have previously elaborated on. Like the Canadian Aboriginals and Inuit, Australian Aboriginals abided by the "it takes a village to raise a child" in the literal sense, in that all members of an extended family participate in child-rearing; like the reservation schools in Canada, the Stolen Generation of Australia involved mixed-race Aboriginal children being taken away from their families—many of which would have been the product of the rape of Aboriginal women—and their social fabric was thus badly-damaged as a result. And so—taking all of that into account—alcohol, drugs, nails, and the like are a way of coping; though such a way of coping is far from perfect, but do they know any other way?

With native Americans I would put it more on the fact that their standard of living is basically third world.

[Constitutional Technocracy of Minecraft]

The same also holds true for Indigenous Australians, as does drug use. You might see a lot of memes about Aboriginals abusing inhalants if you know which terms to enter on Google Images, but I do not recommend doing so at school, at work, or in public. Point being, it's quite sad, and my personal theory—disclaimer: I am not an expert, nor do I claim to be—is that, due to the recency of contact with European settlers, Native Americans, Inuits, and Australian and Canadian Aboriginals have not had sufficient time to be able to find ways to cope with alcohol's impact on their culture. Such an impact has—for millennia—been mitigated by lengthy periods of time dedicated to refinement of alcohol, cultural mores on levels of drinking being acceptable at which situation and whatnot, and also they did not have the break-up of their cultural fabric, as Canadensia and Nanatsu No Tsuki have previously elaborated on. Like the Canadian Aboriginals and Inuit, Australian Aboriginals abided by the "it takes a village to raise a child" in the literal sense, in that all members of an extended family participate in child-rearing; like the reservation schools in Canada, the Stolen Generation of Australia involved mixed-race Aboriginal children being taken away from their families—many of which would have been the product of the rape of Aboriginal women—and their social fabric was thus badly-damaged as a result. And so—taking all of that into account—alcohol, drugs, nails, and the like are a way of coping; though such a way of coping is far from perfect, but do they know any other way?

With native Americans I would put it more on the fact that their standard of living is basically third world.

Above basic necessities, there is little correlation between wealth and subjective wellbeing. Singapore has around 5 times the GDP per capita of Costa Rica, but on average people in Costa Rica have much higher levels of subjective wellbeing than people in Singapore.

[Sovaal]

With native Americans I would put it more on the fact that their standard of living is basically third world.

Above basic necessities, there is little correlation between wealth and subjective wellbeing. Singapore has around 5 times the GDP per capita of Costa Rica, but on average people in Costa Rica have much higher levels of subjective wellbeing than people in Singapore.

I can think imagine being in some of the poorest areas on earth in one of the richest countries in history, land that’s is but a fraction of what your ancestors once, land that is near worthless and was given to your people because nobody else wanted it, land that has little economic growth, inhabited by a people who have had their culture destroyed and suppressed for decades, and things seem to be moving far to slow to mean much for the people you know. If I lived that life I don’t know if I could deal with that.

[The Tomerlands]

First, massively increase taxes for faster healthcare

Next, make psychology and psychiatry electives in high school (or equivalent) education.

Finally, encourage the solving of mental health problems socially. Make it seem like the most important threat in the world.

Well not the most important threat in the world. But a very important one nonetheless.

[LimaUniformNovemberAlpha]

Just because it's not the geography, doesn't mean relocation can't help.

How do suicide rates among the indigenous in Toronto compare?

Maybe. However, if the issues that are contributing to high suicide rates are embedded into the societal fabric of the Inuit in Nunavut, merely relocating them doesn't do much as they take that with them.

The problem is that the rates are for Inuit, not First Nations in other parts of Canada. The Inuit of Greenland also have a similar problem with high suicide rates.

But the question then becomes WHY it is different in other parts of Canada. Might the fact that they are surrounded by people different from their own situation be a factor?

[Empire of Narnia]

The solution is automation. Nobody needs to live there, machines can do all the mining.

[Aureumterra]

I mean this isn’t unusual for far removed locations such as Nunavut, Alaska, and Greenland. Pretty desolate up there.

And the weather never helps. Little to no sunlight can affect people’s moods drastically.

Not really, I’ve gone for 120 total months without sunlight in my lifetime, and I don’t feel suicidal any time. Hell, Ísland has one of the highest happiness ratings in the world.

[The Liberated Territories]

we will have

nunavut

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Maybe. However, if the issues that are contributing to high suicide rates are embedded into the societal fabric of the Inuit in Nunavut, merely relocating them doesn't do much as they take that with them.

The problem is that the rates are for Inuit, not First Nations in other parts of Canada. The Inuit of Greenland also have a similar problem with high suicide rates.

But the question then becomes WHY it is different in other parts of Canada. Might the fact that they are surrounded by people different from their own situation be a factor?

Probably because the Inuit's history has been different to that of other First Nations'. I can't speak much on it but another poster mentioned problems with the social makeup of the Inuit and reservation schools that separated children from their families, causing a lot of distress. They may give you a better rundown of the problems affecting the Inuit of Nunavut.