Crisis at Cross Lake

Manitoba First Nation Declares State of Emergency over Suicide Epidemic


On March 9, 2016, a remote Manitoba First Nations community in Cross Lake declared a state of emergency after six suicides in the previous two months, and 140 attempts in the previous two weeks. This left the small community of 8,300 extremely traumatized and in need of immediate help from the provincial and federal governments. This particular reserve has a high unemployment rate of 80%, and an interviewed resident spoke about how traditional lands are regularly transformed into floodways and none of the promised economic development and employment programs have come into place. Alvin Fiddler, Grand Chief of the NAN (Nishnawbe Aski Nation), which represents 49 First Nations communities, stated “there is something terribly wrong with the delivery of the healthcare and public healthcare in the north”. His was one of the communities to undergo the state of emergency, and he reported that children as young as 10 have taken their own lives, toddlers have died as a result of untreated strep throat, and a woman died from respiratory problems after the local nursing station ran out of oxygen.
(Puxley, 2016)

 Figure 5. Memorial at Cross Lake

Figure 5. Memorial for those lost to suicide in Manitoba's Cross 
Lake. Adapted from "The Suicide Epidemic of Cross Lake: 
Consider urban resettlement", by G Mason, (2016), The
 Globe and Mail, retrieved from http://www.theglobeand
mail.com/opinion/behind-the-tragedy-of-cross-lake/article
29282579/. Reprinted without permission.



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