Five suicides in Quebec indigenous communities were avoidable: coroner’s report
Five suicides that occurred in two indigenous communities in 2015 were avoidable, a Quebec coroner said Saturday in a report that compared Canada’s reserve system to apartheid and suggested it was at the root of many of the communities’ wider struggles.
Bernard Lefrancois’ report was the result of a public inquiry that was ordered in January 2016 after four women and one man died by suicide in a nine-month period.
The victims ranged in age from 18 to 46 and all died between February and October of 2015 in the communities of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam and Kawawachikamach, on Quebec’s North Shore.
In his report, Lefrancois wrote the victims all had unique stories and circumstances, but had their aboriginal heritage in common.