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The average number of people on wait lists as of May, 2015, is 611. Some regions have shorter wait lists, such as Toronto Central, which currently has zero. Others are in the four digits, such as the Central East CCAC, which stretches east from Victoria Park Avenue in Scarborough and north to Algonquin Park, and has 1,516 children waiting for speech therapy. Waiting that long can have a large impact on a child's ability to do well in school, according to Anila Punnoose, a director of Speech-Language and Audiology Canada. During the months or years children are waiting to get speech services, they can quickly fall behind in school, she said. A 1996 study found children with language deficits are more likely to experience social difficulties including interacting with their peers, which impacts their behaviour. Other studies have shown that children who don't get speech therapy early are at a greater risk of problems in their academic performance and mental health.

A lot of speech problems carry over to literacy, because a knowledge of speech sounds is crucial when learning to read, Punnoose said. "It's all about what you hear in those sounds. ... Do you know the beginning sounds in that word? A child who doesn't have good phonological awareness doesn't understand any of that," she said. When looking at school performance, Punnoose said early struggles carry through to later years. A child with speech problems who has difficulties learning in the early years won't be able to build on those lessons in later years as effectively as their peers, she said. Early intervention can mitigate and prevent those problems, she said. "If children are having severe difficulties with speech in kindergarten, it's a predictor that there's going to be academic difficulties, and especially reading and writing difficulties, by Grade 3," she said.

Jocelyn Fedyczko, Eddie's speech pathologist, has worked in a range that includes children from preschool all the way to teenagers. She said early intervention is crucial with young children such as Eddie. "The earlier you can help a child out, the more progress you see," she said. When a child gets to the top of the wait list, they get assessed again, and receive a block of treatment, usually around 10 or 12 sessions, says Peggy Allen, president of the Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (OSLA). That's often not enough to treat even minor to moderate issues such as Eddie's. Fedyczko said she can get through two to three sounds in that time, depending on the child. Many children have problems with more sounds than that, she said. But when a child finishes their block of treatment and needs more, because they haven't worked through all the sounds, for example, they go back to the bottom of the wait list, Allen said.

A spokesperson for the Toronto Central CCAC said they do not have an upper limit to the number of sessions per block assigned by a speech-language pathologist. The pathologist determines three goals for a child to achieve and assigns the number of sessions according to that. If after these sessions more goals are identified, the child is re-referred to the program, the spokesperson said. Parents who are worried about the impact waiting can have on their child can go to private clinics, if they have coverage or can afford the sessions out of pocket. Trish Bentley, Eddie's mother, decided to go for private therapy with Eddie's older brother Oliver. He was put on a six-month wait list for speech problems slightly more acute than Eddie's.

B.C.: Children's speech therapy is organized through the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) and through the Ministry of Education by way of school districts. Children are divided between preschool and school age. Preschool children go through regional health authorities. School-age children go through the school boards, but the pathologists there will often offer consultative services, rather than oneon-one speech therapy. B.C. also has a "no-wait-list" policy for children with autism, which translates to parents getting around $22,000 a year for therapy until the age of six, and $6,000 a year after that. Alberta: Health Services is in charge of speech therapy in that province. It offers both a preschool and a school program. The school program, unlike Ontario's, is done completely through the schools, with no CCAC-type system to refer out to. Saskatchewan: The school districts are responsible for speech therapy. Each school district divides up services slightly differently, though they all differentiate between children under three years, from three to five years, and from six to 18 years.

But the problems go deeper than a lack of funding, according to Allen. She said many of the issues in Ontario stem back to a series of agreements in the 1980s between the provincial Ministry of Long-Term Care, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Community and Social Services. These agreements divided up who is in charge of different treatments, between the school boards and the CCACs. At the time of their creation, these agreements made sense, but times and needs have changed, she said. "It's difficult when ministries make agreements that are frozen in time. It's very difficult to provide the kind of services that we all expect and want Ontarians to receive," she said. Dividing up the services is necessary when trying to manage resources, but the fragmentation is hurting children more than it's helping, Punnoose said.

Dividing services by language issues and other issues doesn't make sense when treating a child, she said. "You shouldn't be splitting up the kid," she said. Punnoose said she wants to see speech therapy come together under one roof. It would mean co-operation from all three ministries, as well as a major reorganization of the funding, but she believes it would be a better model for children. "Students are in schools the better waking part of their lives. Why wouldn't we have the services right there in an authentic environment where it's totally accessible," she said. There are changes coming.

Last December, the Ontario government announced more funding for preschool speech and language programs, as well as efforts to integrate speech services better, through its Special Needs Strategy. Punnoose says it's a good step. "The government recognizes that the system was broken," she said. For now, the choice for parents in many CCACs will be between long wait lists and paying for private service. Hunter-Trottier said many parents, even those with coverage, don't know about the latter option. "We sometimes get parents here in tears, saying, 'Oh my goodness, the services here, I wish I had known about that a year ago,' " she said. Bentley said she won't be looking at public services for Eddie, as she's happy with the service she gets at Canoe. "I'd be open to it, but I'm not going to actively seek that out," she said.

For Eddie, what matters is the progress he makes. Within 10 minutes of his trouble saying "lipstick," he was opening up a treasure chest, with a key. With little prompting, he used the same technique as before, separating the sounds of the word. "Kuh-ey," he said. Could he try it all together? He pauses for a second. "Key," he says, almost flawlessly, beaming at his success. SPEECH THERAPY IN EACH PROVINCE

Speech therapy, like all healthcare matters, is regulated differently in each province and territory in Canada. Information on how each system works is difficult to come by. But generally, most provinces have very similar systems - and challenges - according to Joanne Charlebois, CEO of Speech-Language and Audiology Canada. Charlebois said Ontario's wait times are probably worse than those in other provinces, but she's spoken to people across Canada who tell her similar stories. Here's a breakdown of how it works across the country. Ontario: Speech therapy for children falls under the responsibility of three ministries: the Ministry of Long-Term Care, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Community and Social Services. Children in Ontario are divided by age and by the nature of their speech problem. Children under school age qualify for Ontario's preschool speech and language program. Once in school, those children with language problems - major problems speaking or understanding words or sentences - go to a school speech pathologist, while any other problems, such as pronunciation, stuttering, voice and articulation are referred to the Community Care Access Centres, which employ contract speech pathologists.

Rather than wait those six months, Bentley took him to Canoe. "As time went on, we said enough of this, he's going to be past the point of catching the problem," she said. For families who don't have coverage and who can't afford private services, though, the only option is to wait. Finding the cause of the long waits is hard, but one thing is certain: It's not due to a lack of speech pathologists, according to Shanda Hunter-Trottier, the owner of S.L. Hunter Speechworks, another private clinic in Toronto. She used to have problems finding qualified speech pathologists, but now she's facing the opposite problem. "I've been practising for 26 years. ... In the last five years, [I] have more resumes than I can keep track of," she said. Rather, she says, it's a large web of problems that slows down the system. First among these is a lack of public funding. "There's a lot of speech pathologists that don't have jobs, but these places aren't hiring. The cutbacks have been atrocious," she said.

Manitoba: School districts are also in charge here. The inschool speech-language pathologists offer services from classroom-based programming to individual therapy. Quebec: The system here is more like Ontario's. Speechtherapy services are offered through the local community service centres (CLSC), similar to Ontario's CCACs. The CLSCs are not obliged to provide speech therapy in English, though some, especially in areas with a large anglophone population, usually do. Nova Scotia: The province has 28 speech and hearing centres, with 35 pathologists in total. They assess and provide treatment for children and adults. School boards in the province also have speech-language pathologists who also have a teacher's certificate.

Prince Edward Island: The province provides free speech services for children until they enter school. Northwest Territories: Speech therapists are only able to visit some remote communities once or twice a year. Instead, the province offers a service called Telespeech, where pathologists can help people without having to be physically present. Nunavut: The territory had no speech pathologists in 2013, according to Statistics Canada.

Gélinas said a single mom with two children making $43,432 can now access dental-health services, but the proposed change would see that net-income eligibility reduced to $23,275 effective next summer. "We were aware of what the NDP highlighted this morning so we are committed to ensuring that children of low-income families will not lose coverage," Hoskins' spokesman Gabe De Roche told the Star. Public-health units across the province are mandated to provide preventative dental care to children of low-income families, but Gélinas cautions that in northwestern Ontario only 80 of 4,000 children seen under the program last year would qualify under the new rules.

Preventive oral health services delivered by public health units, as mandated in the Ontario Public Health Standards, includes scaling, fluoride varnish and fixing cavities. "We believe that investing in preventative dental care saves tens of millions of dollars in health-care costs down the road," Gélinas told reporters. Premier Kathleen Wynne fired back in the legislature that because of changes made earlier this year through the $30 million Healthy Smiles program, 70,000 more kids from low-income families are receiving dental care, but Dr. Melvin C. Hsu, the manager of Dental and Oral Health Services at Toronto Public Health, told the Star that increase was taken into consideration when the board calculated that 15,600 children will lose preventative dental services.

"From our point of view we want to prevent disease and when you let disease progress it will cost much more and the health of the child suffers ... and that means 15,000 children may be more vulnerable to oral disease," Hsu said. Opposition critics, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), public-health officials and families that benefit from the plan all agree the proposed change must be scrapped. Tim Maguire, president of local 79, CUPE, said thousands of kids receive dental-health screenings annually. "If you leave someone without the ability to have dental work, all of a sudden you are into an emergency department. That's the most costly form of health care we can have," Tory MPP Bill Walker said.

While the findings and recommendations are not binding, Smith said they highlight the challenges faced by African Canadians for the international community and hopefully put more pressure on Ottawa to rectify the inequities. "The situation is only going to get worse," Smith said. "We have families in the community torn apart at an alarming rate. "The future looks pretty bleak for our young people."

The UN delegation was in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax to meet with government officials, community members and rights groups to identify good practices and gaps in protecting the rights of black people. "We had been trying to secure a visit to Canada for a long time. It's a great joy that we were officially invited here," the working group's chair Ricardo Sunga told the Star in a phone interview Tuesday. "We look at Canada as a model in many ways when it comes to human rights protection.

We appreciate Canada's effort in addressing discrimination in various forms, but no country is exempt from racism and racial discrimination." Despite the wealth of information on socio-economic indicators in Canada, the investigators criticized the "serious" lack of race-based data and research that could inform prevention, intervention and treatment strategies. "The working group is concerned that the category 'visible minorities' obscures the realities and specific concerns of African Canadians," its report said. "There is clear evidence that racial profiling is endemic in the strategies and practices used by law enforcement. Arbitrary use of 'carding' or street checks disproportionately affects people of African descent."

The overrepresentation of black people in the criminal justice system was of particular concern for the group, who found African Canadians make up only 3 per cent of the population but account for 10 per cent of the prison population. In the last decade, the number of black detainees in federal correctional facilities has grown by 71.1 per cent, it warned. Among other findings by the UN experts: Across Canada, African Canadian children are being taken into child welfare on "dubious" grounds. Forty-one per cent of children in Children's Aid Society of Toronto's care were black when only 8 per cent of children are of African descent. The unemployment rate for black women is 11 per cent, 4 per cent higher than the general population, and they earn 37 per cent less than white males and 15 per cent less than white women.

A quarter of African Canadian women live below the poverty line compared to 6 per cent for their white counterparts. One-third of Canadian children of Caribbean heritage and almost half of continental African children live in poverty, compared to 18 per cent of white Canadian children. Chris Ramsaroop, an advocate with Justicia for Migrant Workers, hopes the report will raise awareness of the plight of African Canadians. "We need every opportunity to hold the feet of the federal and provincial governments to the fire," he said. The UN experts recommend a national department of African-Canadian affairs to develop policies to address issues facing black people and implement a nationwide mandatory disaggregated data collection policy based on race, colour, ethnic background and national origin.

Odion Fayalo, of Justice is Not Color Blind Campaign, protests racial profiling before a Toronto Police board meeting. • René Johnston/TORONTO STAR file photo

Risk factors linked to increased mental health problems in children include unstable home environments, harsh or inconsistent parenting, parental mental illness and inadequate access to health care, says the Ontario report.

those from higher income brackets may be able to get help more quickly because they can access private practitioners without wait lists and coverage from health insurance companies

A family straining to make ends meet may not have extra dollars for trips to recreation centres, registration for sports teams or other social activities - experiences that connect children with their peers and keep them from being isolated and alone and therefore susceptible to mental health problems.

The report, released on Tuesday by Canadian and U.S. researchers along with the Canadian Pediatric Society, the Assembly of First Nations and Unicef Canada, says the federal government has fallen short on Jordan's Principle, its 2007 pledge to ensure First Nations children who are tied up in jurisdictional disputes between the federal, provincial and band governments are not denied access to public health and social services.

After decorating Halloween cookies together, Han brings his own masterpiece, smothered in smarties and sprinkles, to Clark and encourages her to try it. Few words are exchanged, but smiles and giggles are constant at the intergenerational program at Youville Residence, a long-term care facility for seniors in Vancouver. Han Jr. is among a half dozen children visiting this day from the Montessori Children's Community - a daycare located on the same site as Youville, at 33rd and Heather.

Montessori Children's Community administrator Kristina Yang said it's a win-win situation. "Even if there is not a lot of communication with words you can see the beautiful smiles on everyone's face. Many of the children come to know a lot of the seniors and when they pass by our window they'll be excited waving and saying 'Hi ,'" Yang said.

Youville occupational therapist Sheralyn Manning said the children's visits are a big part of the seniors'day. Besides planned events, such as doing crafts together, every so often the children will visit when the weather is bad and they are not able to play outdoors. Manning pointed out the friendship between Clark and Han has been particularly touching to watch and Clark has a recent craft project Han gave her prominently displayed in her room. When most people think of nursing homes the image that comes to mind is a stand-alone building offering residential care only for the aged.

It's a place seldom visited unless you are a family member, friend or volunteer. But these days more homes are trying to build bridges to the wider community. Of B. C.'s 460 government and private nursing homes, only a handful have daycares or doctor's offices on site, said Daniel Fontaine, CEO of the B. C. Care Providers Association, which represents 60 per cent of the privately-operated homes. But none are attached to a facility that offers a large variety of community services. One of the best Canadian examples of a nursing home that achieves just that, said Fontaine, is Niverville Heritage Centre, near Winnipeg. It is home to 116 seniors but is also a gathering place for major community events.

Creating community connections is key as Providence Health begins its planning stage to replace some of its older nursing homes in Vancouver, said David Thompson, who is responsible for the Elder Care Program and Palliative Services. Providence Health operates five long-term-care homes for approximately 700 residents at four different sites in the city. "It's always been our vision to create a campus of care on the land ," said Thompson, of the six acres owned by Providence Health where Youville is located.

Before the centre opened in 2007, he said, members from the non-profit board that operates the centre visited traditional nursing homes and discovered that the lounges that were built for seniors were seldom used. "I remember going to one place where there was a screened-in porch that was packed. The seniors were all there wanting to watch the soccer game of the school next door ," he said. Having services like doctors'offices, dentists, a daycare, a full-service restaurant, and hair styling shop on site fulfil the centre's mission of being an "inter-generational meeting place which fosters personal and community well-being." Fontaine said it's worth noting that Niverville was able to "pull all of this together in a community with a population of less than 5,000 people." He hopes more B. C. nursing homes follow Niverville's lead.

Elim Village in Surrey, which offers all levels of residential senior care on its 25-acre site, is on that track. There are 250 independent living units, 109 assisted living units and 193 traditional nursing home beds. The village also has a 500-seat auditorium, located in the centre of the village, that hosts weddings and is available for rent for other public events. Elim Village also rents out space in one of its 10 buildings to a school, which allows inter-generational programs to take place easily between students and seniors. Another "continuing care hub " at Menno Place, in Abbotsford, has a public restaurant called Fireside Cafe, popular with staff from nearby Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre. There's also a pharmacy and hairdresser on its 11-acre "campus " site but these services are available only to the 700 residents and staff. "We purposely try to involve the community as much as possible ," said Menno Place CEO Karen Baillie. "It's Niverville on a smaller scale." She said Menno Place partners with high schools and church groups and hundreds of volunteers visit regularly. "Seniors are often challenged with isolation and fight depression. That's why we have different programs to encourage them to socialize ," she said.

Research shows 44 per cent of seniors in residential care in Canada have been diagnosed with depression, and one in four seniors live with a mental health problem, such as depression or anxiety, whether they live in their own home or are in residential care. A 2014 report by the National Seniors Council found socially isolated seniors are at a higher risk for negative health behaviours including drinking, smoking, not eating well and being sedentary. The report also found social isolation is a predictor of mortality from coronary disease and stroke, and socially isolated seniors are four to five times more likely to be hospitalized.

Since more seniors now remain in their own homes longer those who move into care homes are often more frail and need a higher level of assistance, said Menno Place director of communications and marketing Sharon Simpson. Seniors with dementia, in particular, can be socially isolated as friends and family often find it more difficult to visit them as they decline, she said. But Simpson said an intergenerational dance program, run by ballet teacher Lee Kwidzinski, has been a wonderful opportunity for seniors with dementia to be connected to the community. The program is also offered in four other nursing homes in the Fraser Valley. "For them it's an opportunity to see children. You can see the seniors come to life, smiling and giggling at the girls'antics. It's very engaging ," she said. "Some may not be verbal but they are still able to connect. They feel their emotions and they know whether someone is good to them. They feel these girls and become vibrantly alive. It's one of the most powerful things I've ever seen."

The centre hosts 100 weddings each year. As well, about 50,000 visitors drop in at the centre annually to access their doctor's office, dentist and pharmacist or visit the full-service restaurant and pub. "We found seniors don't want to be retired to a quiet part of the community and left to live out their lives. They want to live in an active community and retreat back to their suite when they want that peace and quiet ," said Niverville Heritage Centre's CEO Steven Neufeld.

He said the plan is to build another facility nearby, with 320 traditional nursing home beds. One of the ways to partly fund the cost is to include facilities that could be rented out by the larger community, which would be a benefit to the seniors as well, he said. There is already child care on site, and future plans to help draw in the community include a restaurant, retail space and an art gallery. He said another idea is to partner with nearby Eric Hamber Secondary School by providing a music room for students to practise.

"Cambie is at our doorsteps. If you have people coming in (to a residential care facility) it brings vibrancy and liveliness ," Thompson said

The survey was conducted in October and November last year when 103 organisations checked 52,443 in-patients for infection.

The majority were in NHS hospitals and for the first time, 1,665 patients in private hospitals were included.

Lead author Dr Susan Hopkins, an epidemiologist at the Health Protection Agency

“There have been great results achieved in reducing the levels of MRSA and C. difficile over the last five years in the NHS

"These have been accomplished through national policies and guidelines and changes to infection control.

Why is this important to non-Indigenous Canadians working in the health system?

Once thought mainly a problem for elderly people treated in hospital, C. difficile is now increasingly being reported in children, according to a new position statement on C. difficile published Friday by the Canadian Paediatric Society in the journal, Paediatrics & Child Health.

Absent from the government’s briefings and speeches has been any discussion of the impact these cuts would have on the most vulnerable of vulnerable populations – children. Our research team has analyzed data from the country’s largest pediatric emergency room – The Hospital for Sick Children – and produced surprising results published in the international open source medical journal PLOS ONE.

We know that income provides the prerequisites for health including housing, food, clothing, education and safety. Low income limits an individual's opportunity to achieve their full health potential (physical, psychological and social) because it limits choices. This includes the ability to access safe housing, choose healthy food options, find inexpensive child care, access social support networks, learn beneficial coping mechanisms and build strong relationships. Here's what everyone needs to know:

1. In Canada, there is no official measure of poverty. The way in which we measure and define poverty has implications for policies developed to reduce poverty and its effect on health. Statistics Canada does not define poverty nor does it estimate the number of families in poverty in Canada. Instead, it publishes statistics on the number of Canadians living in low-income, using a variety of measurements. Following the federal government's cancellation of the mandatory long-form census, long-term comparisons of income trends over time have been made difficult because the voluntary survey is now likely to under-represent those living in low income. 2. There is a direct link between socioeconomic status and health status. Robust evidence shows that people in the lowest socioeconomic group carry the greatest burden of illness. This social gradient in health runs from top to bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum. If you were to look at, for example, cardiovascular disease mortality according to income group in Canada, mortality is highest among those in the poorest income group and, as income increases, mortality rate decreases. The same can be found for conditions such as cancer, diabetes and mental illness.

3. Poverty in childhood is associated with a number of health conditions in adulthood. More than one in seven Canadian children live in poverty. This places Canada 15th out of 17 similar developed countries, and being at the bottom of this list is not where we want to be. Children who live in poverty are more likely to have low birth weights, asthma, Type 2 diabetes, poorer oral health and suffer from malnutrition. But also children who grow up in poverty are, as adults, more likely to experience addictions, mental health difficulties, physical disabilities and premature death. Children who experience poverty are also less likely to graduate from high school and more likely to live in poverty as adults. 4. People living in poverty face more barriers to access and care. It has been found that Canadians with a lower income are more likely to report that they have not received needed health care in the past 12 months. Also, Canadians in the lowest income groups are 50 per cent less likely than those in the highest income group to see a specialist, and 40 per cent more likely to wait more than five days for a doctor's appointment. They are also twice as likely as higher-income Canadians to visit the emergency department for treatment. Researchers have reported that Canadians in the lowest income groups are three times less likely to fill prescriptions and 60 per cent less able to get needed tests because of costs.

5. There is a profound two-way relationship between poverty and health. People with limited access to income are often more socially isolated, experience more stress, have poorer mental and physical health and fewer opportunities for early childhood development and post-secondary education. In the reverse, it has been found that chronic conditions, especially those that limit a person's ability to maintain viable stable employment, can contribute to a downwards spiral into poverty. Studies show the former people living in poverty experiencing poor health occurs more frequently than poor health causing poverty.

As we approach the October election, Canadians ought to remember that poverty, health and the economy are inextricably linked issues. We ignore those links at our peril. Carolyn Shimmin is a Knowledge Translation Coordinator with EvidenceNetwork.ca and the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation in Winnipeg.

Brown said there were 33 beds in hallways when he visited Brampton Civic Hospital recently and the ER has 50,000 more visits than they can handle. In Timmins, he was told the 1% funding increase the hospital got barely covers the increased cost of electricity, let alone the collective bargaining increases and the inflationary healthcare costs. Cuts are a reason why doctors and nurses are at loggerheads with the government, he said.

We need to stabilize the situation in Attawapiskat in terms of making sure they have the health support they need,” Mr. Angus (Timmins-James-Bay, Ont.) told The Hill Times last week. “We need a plan to get people who are needing help in any of the communities to get that help.”

A rash of attempted suicides prompted Mr. Angus, who’s also the NDP critic for indigenous and northern affairs, to call for an emergency debate on the ongoing suicide crisis in the James Bay community of about 2,000. As a result, the House of Commons convened until midnight last Tuesday for an emotionally charged discussion on mental health services following a string of incidents in northern reserves in recent months. Several MPs choked up during their statements, recounting suicide incidents in their ridings and personal lives.

Sometimes partisan politics need to be put aside and members need to come together to find solutions to prevent another unnecessary loss of life,” Conservative MP Todd Doherty (Cariboo-Prince George, B.C.) said during the debate. NDP MP Georgina Jolibois (Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, Sask.) said the suicide rate went up in her home community of La Loche in northern Saskatchewan after a shooting spree that killed four people last January.

Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette (Winnipeg Centre, Man.) recalled visiting the northern Manitoba Pimicikamak Cree Nation, which declared a state of emergency over a series of suicide attempts last month.

Mr. Angus made an emotional appeal to action in his opening remarks during the emergency debate. “We have to end the culture of deniability whereby children and young people are denied mental health services on a routine basis, as a matter of course, by the federal government,” he said. Eleven people attempted to take their lives in Attawapiskat two Saturdays ago, prompting the First Nation to declare a state of emergency—the fourth one since 2006. There has been more than 100 suicide attempts in the reserve since the month of September, many of which involved children. The community has been plagued by flooding and several housing crises in recent years.

Eighteen mental health workers were dispatched to Attawapiskat on Tuesday, including two counsellors, one crisis worker, two youth support workers, and one psychologist. While there is no set timeline, they’re not expected to leave for at least two weeks, said Health Canada assistant deputy minister Keith Conn during a teleconference last week.

Some of the people treated for mental health problems last week had previously been airlifted out of the community for assessment before being sent back after their examination, according to Mr. Conn. This past Tuesday, at least 13 people, including a nine-year-old child, had made plans to overdose on prescription pills as part of a suicide pact. The Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service apprehended them before sending them to the local hospital for a mental health assessment.

Mr. Conn said he’s heard criticism of the mental health assessment process from Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Bruce Shisheesh. Individuals who are identified as likely to commit suicide are typically sent to a hospital in Moose Factory, Ont., to be psychologically evaluated by a psychologist or psychiatrist. They are then discharged and sent back to the community, where some try to take their life again. Mr. Conn said Health Canada does not “control the process,” but he personally committed to review the mental health assessment effectiveness.

No federally funded psychiatrists were present in the region prior to the crisis, despite reserve health-care falling under the purview of the federal government. Mr. Conn said the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA), a provincial health unit servicing communities on the James Bay coastline, is usually responsible for the Attawapiskat First Nation following an agreement struck with the federal government about 10 years ago.

A mental health worker position for the reserve has been vacant since last summer, in part because there’s a lack of housing for such staff. The community has been left without permanent, on-site mental health care services. Since then, the position has been filled by someone already living on reserve. During the emergency debate in the House last week, Health Minister Jane Philpott (Markham-Stouffville, Ont.) emphasized the need for short- and long-term responses to the crisis.

We need to address the socio-economic conditions that will improve indigenous people’s wellness in addition to ensuring that First Nations and Inuit have the health care they need and deserve,” she said. Ms. Philpott pointed to the Liberal government’s budget, which includes $8.4-billion for “better schools and housing, cleaner water, and improvements for nursing stations.”

“Our department and our government are ensuring that all the necessary services and programs are in place,” she said during the debate. “We are currently investing over $300-million per year in mental wellness programs in these communities.” Yet, Mr. Angus said the budget includes “no new mental health dollars” for First Nations communities. In addition to allocating more funds for mental health services to indigenous communities, Mr. Angus said there needs to be a concerted effort to bring in the aboriginal youth in the conversation.

We need to bring a special youth council together,” he told The Hill Times on Wednesday. “We need to have them be able to come and talk to Parliament about their concerns, so we’re looking at those options now.” Emotion was audible in Mr. Angus’ voice when he read letters he received from Aboriginal youth during the emergency debate, which expressed a desire to work with the federal government to solve the crisis.

The greatest resource we have in this country is not the gold and it is not the oil; it is the children,” he said. “The day we recognize that is the day that we will be the nation we were meant to be.” Mr. Angus met with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett (Toronto—St. Paul’s, Ont.) earlier in the week to discuss potential long-term solutions to the suicide crisis. “I’ve always had an excellent relationship with Carolyn Bennett, and as minister we’re trying to find ways to work together on this, to take the tension down, to start finding solutions,” Mr. Angus said. Mr. Angus criticized “Band-Aid” solutions that have been thrown at First Nations issues over the years and said there needs to be a “transformative change” this time.

That’s where we have to move beyond the positive language to actually the brass tacks,” he said. During the emergency debate, Mr. Angus supported the idea of giving more resources to frontline workers such as on-reserve police, and health and treatment centres. 0eMr. Angus’ riding sprawls from shores of the Hudson Bay to the Timiskaming district on the border with Quebec, an area roughly equivalent in land size to that of Guinea. He holds two constituency offices in Timmins and Kirkland Lake.

Some $445 million worth of commodities are sent for processing each year, a nearly 50 percent increase since 2006.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has warned that sending food to be processed often means lower nutritional value

A 2008 study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that by the time many healthier commodities reach students, “they have about the same nutritional value as junk foods.”

Roland Zullo, a researcher at the University of Michigan, found in 2008 that Michigan schools that hired private food-service management firms spent less on labor and food but more on fees and supplies, yielding “no substantive economic savings.”

privatization was associated with lower test scores, hypothesizing that the high-fat and high-sugar foods served by the companies might be the cause

in 2010, Dr. Zullo found that Chartwells was able to trim costs by cutting benefits for workers in Ann Arbor schools, but that the schools didn’t end up realizing any savings

Why is this allowed to happen? Part of it is that school authorities don’t want the trouble of overseeing real kitchens. Part of it is that the management companies are saving money by not having to pay skilled kitchen workers.

In addition, the management companies have a cozy relationship with food processers, which routinely pay the companies rebates (typically around 14 percent) in return for contracts. The rebates have generally been kept secret from schools, which are charged the full price.

Last year, Andrew M. Cuomo, then the New York State attorney general, won a $20 million settlement over Sodexo’s pocketing of such rebates. Other states are following New York and looking into the rebates; the Agriculture Department began its own inquiry in August.

the rebate abuses are continuing, now under the name of “prompt payment discounts,” under an Agriculture Department loophole

New York State requires rebates to be returned to schools, but the Sodexo settlement shows how unevenly the ban has been enforced.

Dorothy Brayley, executive director of Kids First, a nutrition advocacy group in Pawtucket, R.I., told me she encountered resistance in trying to persuade Sodexo to buy from local farmers.

The Agriculture Department proposed new rules this year that would set maximum calories for school meals; require more fruits, vegetables and whole grains; and limit trans fats.

the most committed foes of the rules are the same corporations

Their lobbying persuaded members of Congress to block a once-a-week limit on starchy vegetables and to continue to allow a few tablespoons of tomato sauce on pizza to count as a vegetable serving.

One-third of children from the ages of 6 to 19 are overweight or obese.