The Daily News Worldwide (Halifax)
Friday, April 28, 1995
Suicides strike isolated reserve
WHITEDOG, Ont. - Four young men - two of them brothers - have hanged
themselves in the past six weeks on this impoverished native reserve
in northwestern Ontario. There has been a suicide a week for the past
three weekends in the community of 1,000 people, said Sgt. Jeff Bangma
of provincial police in nearby Minaki. The victims, who were between
the ages of 20 and 30, had been using alcohol, solvents or both,
police said. Native elder Isaac Mandamin said he thinks the deaths are
tied to the changes in lifestyle that have been forced on the people
of the Wabaseemong First Nation by non-native governments. "If you
can't see your way out, then you have to look for something," said the
band councillor and former chief.