THUNDER BAY – Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Derek Fox is supporting a plea for assistance issued Thursday by Wunnumin Lake First Nation Chief Sam Mamakwa following a series of tragedies in the remote community.
“We are very concerned for the welfare of the members of the Wunnumin Lake community as they grieve these terrible losses. Tragedies like this have devastating effects in our First Nations communities, and people often have nowhere to turn for help,” said NAN Grand Chief Derek Fox
“We will do everything we can to support the community and we look to our provincial and federal Treaty partners to respond immediately to Chief and Council’s requests for assistance.”
Last week, a 20-year-old Wunnumin member fell from a communications tower located in the community, the cause of which is still under investigation. A youth who witnessed the incident later took his own life. Additionally, an Elder passed away while living in a long-term care facility away from the community without the family being informed until a day after his passing.
“Our community is under risk management to maintain community stability, but we require immediate and longer-term support to help us with the psychological trauma and impacts on our entire community,” said Wunnumin Lake Chief Sam Mamakwa in a press conference in Thunder Bay,
“It is critical that the appropriate mental health and other supports are provided as quickly as possible to stabilize our community and help our members heal from these terrible events. We are doing the best we can, but the people of Wunnumin need to know that more help is on the way.”
The leadership of Wunnumin Lake is asking the federal and provincial governments to:
• Provide immediate mental health and intervention supports on an urgent basis;
• Provide additional policing and security to support the community; and
• Work with the community to establish dedicated mechanisms, with capacity-building and resources, to empower the community to respond to similar emergencies in the future.
“There’s no dedicated source of support at the federal and provincial government levels, to support this kind of situation in our community, and in other communities,” said Wunnumin Lake Deputy Chief Dean Cromarty.
“So, it’s like a case-by-case basis, if they have any, that they’ll come help us. So, it’s time the government looked at instituting a support program funding for this purpose, so we don’t have to cry out every time, we’d know where to go.”
Wunnumin Lake First Nation is an Oji-Cree community located approximately 360 kilometres northeast of Sioux Lookout, Ontario, accessible only by air and seasonal winter roads.
