The solution to the epidemic of suicide (and drug and alcohol abuse, family violence, sexual violence and trauma, which are all interrelated) in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities has to be broad-based and long-term and, ultimately, it cannot come from the outside

Andre Picard — Suicide is not a spectator sport. The epidemic of self-harm occurring in indigenous communities warrants urgent attention, but the right kind of attention. We don’t need ghoulish body counts, reported daily in headlines like the latest sports scores: “Girl, 13, at least fifth to commit suicide in Sask. this month.”  Read the rest of this article at The Globe and Mail…

Social enterprises, says Marco Pagani, are The Answer. The answer to food insecurity, to unaffordable housing, to youth unemployment. The answer to poverty.

Pagani, a former high-tech executive who’s now president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Ottawa, pushed hard to get social enterprises a place in the City of Ottawa’s new $30-million Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards. His missionary work paid off. When the Innovation Centre opens later this fall, as many as 20 seats will be reserved for charities, not-for-profit groups and others eager to develop and launch social enterprises, which use business practices to earn money to further an organization’s social mission.  Read the rest of this article at The Ottawa Citizen…

One thousand five hundred and sixty days in solitary confinement. To put this in perspective, consider that the United Nations has declared this form of segregation should never surpass 15 days.

There is a young First Nations man in Thunder Bay who the province of Ontario has kept in a hole for 52 months. His name is Adam Capay. When he was 19 he was arrested on minor charges and sent to jail. There he got into a fight and another man died. We don’t know if Capay is guilty—he has been waiting an incredible four years for his trial.  Read the rest of this article at Maclean’s…

Consumption sites, free naloxone, wider help for addicts and more beds are seen as possible answers

Victoria, B.C. — There’s no shortage of ideas to ease B.C.’s fentanyl-overdose crisis: Supervised-consumption sites, more treatment beds, free naloxone, more supports for addicts after they go through rehab. Implementation, however, is another matter.  Read the rest of this article at (Victoria) Times-Colonist…

“They might look blue or grey around their lips, ears and fingernails from the lack of oxygen. People will look dead.”

Much of Heather Hobbs’s job as a harm-reduction co-ordinator involves showing people how to inject the opioid inhibitor naloxone to reverse the effects of drug overdoses. This year alone she has trained nearly 800 people — illicit-drug users and their parents, shelter staff and support workers — to administer naloxone and has given out 843 kits.  Read the rest of this article at Victoria Times-Colonist…