Suicides of young mothers leave northern Sask. community reeling

A small northern Saskatchewan community is grieving after the recent suicides of two young mothers.A third woman has just come out of a coma after a suicide attempt.

The Birch Narrows First Nation and adjoining hamlet of Turnor Lake has a total population of less than 800 people andarelocated 500 kilometresnorth of Saskatoon.

"It needs to stop now. We have to fight for our community," Birch Narrows Chief Jonathon Sylvestretold CBC News Monday.

Others say they're considering moving to save their children from the suicide attempts which have been accelerating in recent years.

Sylvestreand TurnorLake Mayor Ren Desjarlais say the problem is complex, but agree alcohol and drugs are the common variables.

Community meeting planned

They say young people need to know they're loved and that there are people they can talk to family, friends and health professionals.

"A lot of them just hide it and wait until it's time to explode,"Sylvestresaid.

"Then when alcohol comes in to play, that's when they do these kind of things."

They're planning a community meeting and want to ask residents what they think. They'd like to decrease access to drugs and limit alcohol use.

Other northern reserves and municipalities have enacted bylaws to ban alcohol. Sylvestre and Desjarlais aren't sure laws to createa "dry" community will work.

"People make up their own minds,"Desjarlaissaid.

"Even if we did make it a dry community, they'll find a way to get it anyway. I don't think there's any use of going down that street."

'They're family'

That said, they are determined to find solutions. The community already has mental health andaddiction workers, a youth centre, new school, hockey arenaand other amenities. But there's still something missing in the lives of the young people that decide to end their lives.

More support from other government levels would always help, they said.

"It's really scary. It's getting out of hand. We have to see what the community wants," Desjarlaissaid.

The hamlet and First Nation are different jurisdictions with different types of government support, but face many of the same issues. One of the young women who died was from Birch Narrows and the other from TurnorLake.

"What happens to them is what happens to us," Desjarlais said. "They're family."