INQUIR Y ON SUICIDE REPOR T RELEASED BUT INQUIR Y WILL C ONTINUE A t the No v ember 26 27 2014 Council of Chief s mee ting the dr af r eport of the P eople s Inquir y on Suicide Nobody W ants t o Die The y W ant the P ain t o St op w as pr esent ed b y le ad Commissioner Mik e Me t at aw abin A f er much deliber ation and r ec ognizing the import anc e of this inquir y and its findings the Chief s hav e dir ect ed the Commission t o mak e one mor e r ound of c ommunity he arings so that the y outh will hav e mor e input int o the r ec ommendations and r eport The P eople s Inquir y on Suicide w as be gun in 2013 af er Mushk e g o wuk Fir st Nations c ould not g e t g o v ernment support t o look int o the suicide crises gripping the c ommunities The Fir st Nations inst e ad de v eloped a gr ass r oots appr o ach t o look at the c auses of the many de aths The Inquir y held tw o he arings in e ach of the Mushk e g o wuk c ommunities as w ell as the t o wn of Moosonee A t the c ommunity he arings the Commissioner s he ar d fr om hundr eds of c our ag eous people who shar ed their e xperienc es with suicide The people pr esenting w er e ask ed t o pr o vide r ec ommendations that c ould help the c ommunities under st and r espond t o and or eliminat e the suicide p andemic The Commissioner s he ar d and f elt the p ain of the people and the y c omp assionat ely e xpr ess their sinc er e thankf ulness t o all the people that pr esent ed at the he arings Spe aking on behalf of the Chief s Gr and Chief Lawr enc e Martin said that the people and the c ommissioner s c ommitment t o helping find the r oot c auses of our suicide p andemic is deeply appr eciat ed The findings pr esent ed in the dr af r eport c onfirm that the people t ook this matt er v er y seriously the y identified r oot c auses and pr esent ed solutions The people ar e willing t o mak e chang es and the whole c ommunity including individuals need t o do their p art The Chief s decision t o c onduct mor e he arings is v er y import ant bec ause it is our y oung people that ar e most af ect ed b y suicide and the y c an t ell us mor e about the r e al r oot c auses and solutions We need t o do this right and mak e sur e that w e he ar fr om the y oung people in our c ommunities The findings and r eport ar e on the right tr ack and the Chief s w ant t o mak e sur e the y outh hav e their v oic es he ar d says Deputy Gr and Chief L eo F riday 10 The purpo se o f the P eople s Inquir y is t o a Pr o vide a Omushk e g o public inquir y that se ar ches f or mor e of the r e al r oot c auses of this p andemic b Assist all g o v ernments with finding and under st anding the r oot c ause of this p andemic c R educ e or eliminat e the suicide p andemic d Pr esent a final r eport with a w ork able number of short medium and long t erm solutionsr ec ommendations While the c ommunity he arings f or the y outh ar e being planned and c onduct ed the r eport will be cir culat ed so that the c ommunities c an be gin addr essing the r eport findings and r ec ommendations The Mushk e g o wuk Council is no w in the pr oc ess of sour cing and securing f unding t o c omple t e the Inquir y e arly in the c oming ne wy e ar The f ollo wing identifies the k e y ar e as wher e r ec ommendations ar e made b y the Commission REC OMMEND A TIONS AND POS SIBLE SOL UTIONS The Commissioner s hav e list ened t o The P eople Our P eople s St ories hav e identified 16 k e y issues Sinc e these issues c ame fr om Our P eople s St ories the Commissioner s f elt that Our P eople along with the c ommunity and its le ader ship should be ac c ount able f or implementing e ach of the r ec ommendations and possible solutions