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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.

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.

Socialist Action participated in the NL Rising! rally on May 5 at the Confederation Building. The event was organized by the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour and was attended by public and private sector unions, social justice groups, women and youth rights groups, and all those affected by the cuts to services, axed jobs and unfair tax measures. There were about 2,500 in attendance and a Socialist Action member held an SA banner on the main stage with the help of a member of Anonymous.

udget about creating jobs, eradicating poverty, improving literacy, providing opportunities for young Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, enhancing life in rural communities and for seniors, eliminating the gender wage gap, and improving mental health programs.

Socialist Action is also involved in starting a local NDP socialist caucus within the ranks of the provincial NDP modelled after the socialist caucus in the federal NDP. The finance minister has made some of her money thanks to temporary foreign workers working at her fast-food restaurants. She was previously the biggest cheerleader for the Muskrat Falls project when sitting on the board of directors for Nalcor, the provincial utility and energy company. Now she says she has to implement this budget because of the cost overruns on the dam project. It is a project lacking transparency and accountability, and making a lot of people from outside Newfoundland and Labrador wealthier, including foreign construction companies that have never done jobs like this in Canada, a Canadian engineering company that was involved in a bribery scandal with Libya when Moammar Gadhafi was still in power, and foreign banks, bond holders and credit rating agencies. Her goal seems to be to obey the credit rating agencies and please them.

Newfoundland and Labrador is in a more precarious position now than in 1933, when Newfoundland was bankrupt and Canada and Britain were worried about their own credit ratings. The British and Canadian governments appointed a Commission of Government which was controlled by two private bankers. This was the start of a 15-year political breach which eventually led to the Crown selling off Newfoundland and Labrador to the Canadian bourgeois wolves to pay off their war debt in 1949.

Socialist Action NL has unanswered questions about Don Dunphy, an injured worker who was seemingly killed for a tweet when an RNC officer on the then premier's security detail showed up at his home on an Easter Sunday. What is happening to the pensions of iron ore miners from Labrador who have provided raw material to Hamilton Steel Mills for years? We still have foreign multinational corporations willing to exploit our fishery resources. Those corporations and the provincial government are stomping on indigenous peoples' rights in Labrador.

Socialist Action is on the ground in Newfoundland and Labrador, active in the labour movement, social justice, international solidarity, feminist and environmental campaigns. We will continue to make the socialist caucus visible in the NDP provincial party, to be at the table at the N.L. independence debate, to actively support indigenous peoples' struggles, as well as in anti-war, anti-poverty and the human rights movements. Socialist Action NL is in solidarity with the Fourth International worldwide. Chris Gosse St. John's

recommends that the proportion of health spending that goes to mental health should rise from seven per cent to nine per cent over 10 years

$4 billion over the next decade and

spending from social services budgets that goes to mental health should rise by at least two per cent

Shift policies and practices toward recovery for people living with mental health problems.Address critical gaps in treatment programs for youth and adult offenders.

Set standards for wait times for mental health services.Remove financial barriers for children and youth to access psychotherapies and counselling.Address barriers to access for medications.

not enough is being done to fund services or to address the problem of two-tier access to counselling

The average person over 55 enjoys more than $165,000 additional wealth in their homes after inflation compared to 1977. I'm glad my mom accumulated this wealth. But she and I wonder why the federal government prioritized cutting taxes for the aging population. Income splitting for seniors costs $1.1 billion annually. The pension income credit costs $1.1 billion. The "age" tax break for anyone over 65 costs $3 billion.

Then, we must carry larger mortgages, working an extra month to make annual payments compared to a generation ago - even though interest rates are low compared to the 1980s. For many, this crushes dreams of home ownership, while imposing rents driven by higher property prices. The housing market that frustrates younger Canadians has been good for my mom's demographic.

The average cost of housing is up $116,000 after inflation compared to 2005. Housing costs more even as apartments get smaller in our bigger cities. This squeezes younger generations for space, time and money just when we want to start our families. Compared to when Harper began as PM, we must work an extra two to three years to save a 20 per cent down payment.

Not done there, Harper doubled the contribution limit for tax free savings accounts in his election budget. Canadians over 60 are three to five times more likely to max out their TFSAs compared to those 18 to 49. TFSAs shelter deposits from further taxation no matter how well investments pay off.

He also cut $168 million per year in taxes for affluent seniors by changing rules governing registered retirement income funds - at a cost that is greater in one year than the total Harper added to student grants over the next three. Ironically, the opposition accuses Harper of cutting government spending because of his tax cuts. But this isn't accurate. Annual spending on old age security increased by $8 billion after inflation over Harper's decade, and the Canada Health Transfer increased $10 billion. Forty-seven per cent of health-care spending goes to the 16 per cent of the population over 65.

What Harper didn't increase substantially is spending on younger generations. Ottawa contributes to a federal/provincial spending pattern that invests more than $33,000 per person over 65 compared to less than $12,000 per person under 45. This calculation includes the PM's universal child care benefit, and income splitting for one in three families with kids.

Harper's main rivals promise to do better, but don't always budget enough. The NDP talks about $15/day child care. But the $1.9 billion they budget isn't a quarter of what is required. The Liberal platform so far budgets the most of the big three parties for families raising kids. But their promise to extend parental leave by six months is backed by too little money to make a meaningful difference.

By the platform numbers, the national party last in the polls is currently first for proposing more for younger Canadians. The Greens would eliminate tuition for a first post-secondary degree, and reallocate three times more money for child care services than the NDP. The Greens promise more money than other parties for a national housing strategy.

And the Greens are concrete about pricing pollution so that markets ensure younger Canadians aren't primarily left the costs of keeping our air, water, and land clean, while mitigating climate change. No matter which party you prefer, it's time all parties commit Ottawa to reporting how spending breaks down by age, and whether we are leaving at least as much as we inherited.

Although such reporting would cost Ottawa only a little staff time, it is a prerequisite for Canada to work for all generations. Dr. Paul Kershaw is a policy professor at the University of B.C., and Founder of Generation Squeeze (gensqueeze.ca).

Canada's youth faces a precarious financial future thanks to the actions of the federal government, Paul Kershaw writes. • Melissa Renwick/Toronto Star file photo

Low-income adults who do not have employer-sponsored dental coverage through a publicly funded program - and most don't - must pay for their own dental care. Because the cost is often prohibitive, too many adults avoid seeking treatment at dental offices. Instead, they turn to family doctors and emergency departments for antibiotics and painkillers, which cannot address the true cause of the problem. In 2012, in Ontario alone, there were almost 58,000 visits to Ontario hospital emergency rooms due to oral health problems. Why is access to dental care essential now?

A person's oral health will affect their overall health. Dental disease can cause pain and infection. Gum disease has been linked to respiratory infections, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, poor nutrition, and low birth weight babies. Poor oral health can also impact learning abilities, employability, school and work attendance and performance, self-esteem, and social relationships. It is estimated that 4.15 million working days are lost annually in Canada due to dental visits or dental sick days. Persons with visible dental problems may be less likely to find employment in jobs that require face-to-face contact with the public.

Why is there such a difference in coverage? In short, dental care and pharmacare were not included within the original scope of Canada's national system of health insurance (medicare), and despite repeated evidence of the need to correct this oversight, is still not covered today. Instead, we are left with a patchwork of private employer-based benefits coverage, limited publicly funded programs, and significant out-of-pocket payments for many. Publicly funded dental programs for children and youth do exist for low-income families, including the dependents of those on social assistance. Most provinces and territories have some access to drug coverage, mostly for seniors and social assistance recipients, and there is some support for situations where drug costs are extremely high.

Pharmaceutical coverage in Canada remains an unco-ordinated and incomplete patchwork of private and public plans - one that leaves many Canadians with no prescription drug coverage at all. This has many negative consequences including: Three million Canadians cannot afford to take their prescriptions as written. This leads to worse health outcomes and increased costs elsewhere in the health-care system.

One in six hospitalizations in Canada could be prevented through improved regulation and better guidelines. Medicines are commonly underused, overused, and misused in Canada. Two million Canadians incur more than $1,000 a year in out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs. The uncontrolled cost of medicines is also a growing burden on businesses and unions that finance private drug plans for approximately 60 per cent of Canadian workers. Canada pays more than any comparable health-care system for prescription drugs. We spend an estimated $1 billion on duplicate administration of multiple private drug plans. Depending on estimates, we also spend between $4 billion and $10 billion more on prescription drugs than comparable countries with national prescription drug coverage plans.

Affordable access to safe and appropriate prescription medicines is so critical to health that the World Health Organization has declared governments should be obligated to ensure such access for all. Unfortunately, Canada is the only developed country with a universal health care system that does not include universal coverage of prescription drugs. From its very outset, Canada's universal, public health insurance system - medicare - was supposed to include universal public coverage of prescription drugs. The reasoning was simple. It is essential to deliver on the core principles of "access," "appropriateness," "equity" and "efficiency." Building universal prescription drug coverage into Canada's universal health-care system, based on the above principles, is both achievable and financially sustainable.

A public body - with federal, provincial and territorial representation - would establish the national formulary for medicines to be covered. This body would negotiate drug pricing and supply contracts for brand-name and generic drugs. Importantly, it would use the combined purchasing power of the program to ensure all Canadians receive the best possible drug prices and thereby coverage of the widest possible range of treatments. To patients, the program would be a natural extension of medicare: when a provider prescribes a covered drug, the patient would have access without financial barriers.

To society, universal access to safe and appropriately prescribed drugs and access to dental care will improve population health and reduce demands elsewhere in the health system. The single-payer system will also result in substantially lower medicine costs for Canada. In short, Canada can no longer afford not to have a national pharmacare program and a national dental care program. Disclaimer: The Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination is a non-partisan organization. However, the poverty task force does have ties with two Guelph federal party candidates. Andrew Seagram, the NDP candidate, is a current member of the task force and Lloyd Longfield, the Liberal candidate, is a past member.

Canada ranked No. 8 last year on the United Nations human development index, but the same indicators would place indigenous people in Canada at about 63, added Hoskins.“These inequities can no longer be ignored,” he said. “It’s not up to First Nations to right the wrongs of colonization. Government must invest in meaningful and lasting solutions so communities can heal and have hope.”

The Ontario plan will increase physician services for 28 communities across the Sioux Lookout region in the north by up to 28 per cent, and establish up to 10 new or expanded primary care teams that will include traditional healing.There will also be cultural competency training for front-line health-care providers and administrators who work with First Nations communities, more public health nurses and a dedicated medical officer of health.The government says it will also increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables for about 47,400 indigenous children, and expand diabetes prevention and management in northern and remote communities.

Has a doctor   85.1% Heavy drinkers          17.9% High blood pressure 17.7% Overweight or obese adults 54.0% Overweight or obese youth (12-17)          23.1% Physically active (leisure time)       53.7%

In 2014, roughly 3.4 million Canadians aged 12 and older (11.2 per cent) reported that they did not receive health care when they felt they needed it. Overall, females (12.4 per cent) were more likely than males (10 per cent) to have reported an unmet health-care need. Among age groups, unmet health-care needs were lowest for those aged 12 to 19 and those aged 65 or older, and were highest for those aged 20 to 54. Source: Health Canada

Top 10 Causes of Death in Canada (2012) Ischaemic heart disease       13.8% Alzheimer’s and other dementias   9.5% Trachea, bronchus, lung cancers     8.1% Stroke             5.4% Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease     4.5% Colon and rectum cancers   3.7% Diabetes mellitus      2.7% Lower respiratory infections           2.3%

Breast cancer             2.2% Falls    1.9% Source: World Health Organization International Comparison of Health Spending  Canada           OECD Average           Canada’s OECD Ranking Total Health expenditure as a percentage of GDP            10.2    8.9       10/34 Total Health expenditure per capita           $4,351            $3,453            10/34

Public expenditure on health per capita   $3,074            $2,535            13/34 Public share of total health expenditure   70.60%          72.70%          22/34 Hospital expenditure per capita     $1,338            $1,316            15/29 Physician expenditure per capita   $720   $421   27-Apr Drug Expenditure per capita          $761   $517   2/31 Source: OECD Health Statistics 2015