Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk about how badly we need our youth in the Northwest Territories today to stay alive. Mr. Speaker, it’s very hard in our small communities, and I’m pleading right now to the youth in the Northwest Territories. There are families right now in the North that are dealing with issues of suicide, family violence, drugs and alcohol and with our youth. There are families right now that need help and our youth are so valuable and they’re bombarded with so many issues.
Mr. Speaker, I had to deal with one in Colville Lake and I’m asking the youth how hard sometimes they put the families of their communities through. A lot of youth want to give up on life. I’ve asked an elder on the Hay River Reserve, Daniel Sonfrere, how to deal with this kind of issue where youth have all the reasons why they want to end their lives. He says that’s something new. We never had this in our culture. It just became new. I said, “What did you have before?” He said we had all the reasons they wanted to live. It was a good life, a beautiful life. Today the elders are saying that the youth have changed that. So I’m pleading with the youth to go and sit down with the elders and talk to them.
I have done many workshops in the past on suicide prevention across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Mr. Speaker, as a government we need to save lives. More importantly, we need to give them hope and inspiration to live and to get up and live life, but we need to teach them in the right way. We need to listen to them. I applaud any initiatives this government does to keep one youth alive, but more importantly, to help the families. So I ask the youth again…
Mr. Yakeleya, your time for your Member’s statements has expired. Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
