Indigenous Mental Health Issues

For decades now, mental health and Indigenous Peoples' has been an issue of national concern. According to the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, suicide is the leading cause of death among Indigenous youth (Centre for Suicide Prevention, 2003). Meanwhile, data from Statistics Canada confirms that rates of death by suicide among Indigenous Peoples are five to six times higher than the national average (Health Canada, 2015). Today, it is understood that the main culprit of this rampant problem has been colonization and theft of land, which has negatively affected the well-being of Indigenous communities. This paper will examine some research on Canada's Indigenous Peoples and mental health, summarizing evidence for the social

These determinants have economic and ideological roots. Colonization and lack of autonomy have been linked to high rates of suicide, depression, and substance abuse in Indigenous communities. Today, Indigenous communities have diminished or eliminated access to subsistence activities through theft of land and creation of reservations. This is mainly evident in the destruction of traditional hunting grounds through farming and the fur trade. Consequently, colonial development around Indigenous communities has led to widespread water contamination, which the current government has yet to address adequately. As a result of the rampant colonialization, theft of land, and environmental destruction, Indigenous Peoples' who have historically been dependant on a land-based economy have been driven to wage labour in settler communities where they experience widespread racial discrimination, wage disparity, and

Amongst Canada's history of genocidal practices is the residential schools designed with the intent to destroy the culture, language, and spirituality of Indigenous Peoples' (Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996). At these schools, widespread sexual and physical abuse continued to be common practice well through the 60s. This problem has been further exacerbated by a social welfare system not designed to understand or adequately even begin to accommodate the complex health determinants of Indigenous Peoples' of Canada. With little to no support in a system designed to exclude them, many Indigenous Peoples' have turned to substance abuse as a way through the