Indigenous organizations seeing influx of mental health requests following discovery of grave sites
Indigenous organizations seeing influx of mental health requests following discovery of grave sites
REGINA -
Since the recent discoveries of unmarked graves at residential schools across the country, many trauma and mental health workers have seen an increases in the number of people looking for help.
Regina Treaty Status Indian Services Inc. put together a collection of services to support both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. It’s dealing with a surge of calls from people seeking help, as more graves are found around residential schools.
“To talk about how people are feeling and not only the indigenous community, but also Canadians, mainstream Canadians,” Erica Beaudin, Executive Director of Regina Treaty Status Indian Services Inc., said.
Beaudin said Indigenous people have been speaking their truths through the Truth and Reconciliation process. She feels until the recent discovery of graves, most Canadians didn’t seem to understand what happened, or what kind of role they could play in moving forward.
“This is perhaps the perfect time, where ears are open, where the brain is willing to listen, where the heart is open,” Beaudin said.
Since many residential school survivors attended multiple locations, Beaudin said its important to remember the wide spread pain these findings can cause.
“There's an interconnectedness and a collective grief that is occurring right now, and that is portrayed in, or I should say it comes out in different ways for different people,” Beaudin said.
Similar services are being offered at the Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship Centre. Mental health therapists, councillors and Elders are all on hand to help anyone who seeks their services.
“They’re not just for Indigenous people. If non-Indigenous Canadians want to come to the Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship Centre and they want to get something off their shoulders and they want to cry and they want to talk to somebody, we are here for them,” Robert Doucette, Executive Director of the Saskatoon Indian and Métis Friendship Centre, said.
Doucette said policies continue to impact the number of Indigenous youth in care.
He feels although politicians and leaders often cause change, the road to healing for all Canadians starts with talking and listening.
“Sit down with the First Nations and Métis brothers and sisters, because again I say to you we are all part of this family. And lets start the dialogue amongst ourselves,” Doucette said.
Beaudin said while the average Canadian is not directly responsible for anti-Indigenous polices, it’s important they understand the benefits they received from them.
--
If you are a former residential school survivor in distress, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
Additional mental-health support and resources for Indigenous people are available here.
Canada's privacy commissioner says the belated disclosure that RCMP has for years been using spyware capable of accessing cell phone and computer microphones, cameras and other data as part of major investigations, is a clear example of why Canada's Privacy Act needs updating.
A housing correction which has already led to four consecutive months of price declines in the previously overheated Greater Toronto Area market could end up becoming 'one of the deepest of the past half a century,' a new report from RBC warns.
For millennial and gen Z Canadians, owning a home in this real estate market might seem like a pipe dream. In an exclusive column for CTVNews,ca personal finance contributor Christopher Liew offers some strategies to consider if you can’t afford the housing market yet.
Alberta Health Services has issued an enforcement order against a Banff home after an inspection discovered that as many as 42 people were staying inside the property, saying the maximum number of occupants of the facility 'was exceeded.'
Climate hazards, such as flooding, heat waves and drought have worsened more than half of the hundreds of known infectious diseases in people, including malaria, hantavirus, cholera and even anthrax.
When Chris Rod and other fellow organizers first met three years ago to discuss what would become The Saskatchewan Filipino Music and Food Street Fest, he never imagined what he saw all weekend at Kiwanis Memorial Park.
Alberta’s Advanced Education minister says he is willing to help Athabasca University with whatever it wants – including money – to relocate 500 employees to the small town that's the school's namesake, but says the school has not stepped up.
A housing correction which has already led to four consecutive months of price declines in the previously overheated Greater Toronto Area market could end up becoming 'one of the deepest of the past half a century,' a new report from RBC warns.
A suspect already in handcuffs managed to overpower a Toronto police officer and steal their SUV, sending police on a wild early morning chase in the city’s midtown area on Monday.
Bob Chiarelli is promising to freeze property taxes and fees in the first year of his mandate if elected mayor of Ottawa this fall, saying he believes efficiencies can be found in the city's multi-billion dollar budget to cover costs.
A Metro Vancouver shelter held what it called a 'pity party' for a dog who's been waiting to be adopted for more than a year - the first dog at the facility to wait that long in about even years.
Montreal police are investigating the suspicious death of a man discovered in a bin during recycling collection in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Monday morning.
A state of emergency remains in place for central Newfoundland, as well as a provincewide outdoor fire ban, as a long-burning forest fire continues to grow.
Two people have been killed in a motorcycle crash in Guysborough County. The RCMP and emergency crews responded to the single-vehicle crash on Highway 7 in Melrose, N.S., around 5 p.m. Sunday.
The Trans-Canada Highway is closed in both directions between Ba Sa Gim Road on Highway 69 in Shawanaga First Nation and the intersection of Highway 400 and 559 in Nobel on Monday morning following a crash, police say.
A 25-year-old Toronto man has been arrested and brought to northern Ontario following a phoney bomb threat at the Sudbury courthouse Friday, police say.
Environment Canada has issued a heat warning for most of southwestern Ontario, including Waterloo-Wellington, with local temperatures expected to climb into the high twenties or low thirties.
