Nearly 40 young people from the community are currently considered to be at risk of suicide; that represents about 10 per cent of the population of Wapekeka. The remote, fly-in First Nation has been in a state of crisis after the deaths of two 12-year-old girls in January. The community has been working to get the necessary resources after the tragic deaths of Jolynn Winter on Jan. 8 and Chantal Fox on Jan. 10. Earlier this year, Health Canada promised Wapekeka $380,000 in emergency funding but only $95,000 has arrived and that was spent by the end of March on new mental health workers, Frogg said. “We don’t have enough resources to monitor people 24/7 here. Wapekeka submitted a proposal to Health Canada in July 2016 to fund a suicide prevention program after a suicide pact involving several youth was discovered. We’re trying to recuperate and we’re trying to stabilize our community and now we’re just back to where we were,” said Frogg. Wapekeka First Nation has declared a state of emergency after the third suicide of a child in the remote First Nation since January. Since last winter Health Canada has continued to fund additional crisis supports, including three staff rotating every 10 days, up to four mental health counsellors, administration and ground transportation, noted the department in a statement to the Star. Jenera Roundsky was declared dead on Tuesday night at the nursing station after being discovered at the community hockey rink by another child, according to Wapekeka band manager Joshua Frogg.
– A simple text saying goodbye. That was the last anyone heard from 12-year-old Jenera Roundsky, who committed suicide in Wapekeka First Nation in northern Ontario on June 13. Jenera had been part of a suicide pact made by young girls in the community of 400 Oji-Cree, which suffered the suicides of two of Jenera's 12-year-old friends, Jolyn Winter and Chantel Fox, in January, report CBC News and the Toronto Star. Community leaders learned of the pact last summer and had hoped to prevent the loss of life. Jenera, one of 40 young people deemed at risk of suicide in Wapekeka, received specialized care outside of the community, reports APTN. Three weeks after she returned home, she was found dead at an outdoor ice rink by another 12-year-old, prompting Wapekeka to declare a state of emergency Tuesday. Following the January deaths, Health Canada set aside $380,000 annually to pay for four youth mental health workers in Wapekeka until 2019. But community leaders say the money has yet to arrive and they're still floundering. "We don't have enough personnel to keep watching people on a 24/7 basis that are at high risk. We try, but we just don't have the resources," Wapekeka band manager Joshua Frogg tells the CBC. He hopes the state of emergency will trigger an immediate response. In addition to mental health workers, Frogg says a health and safety plan should be in place for at-risk youth returning to Wapekeka. No such plan was in place for Jenera, he says, adding she was allowed to return home against the advice of a psychiatrist. (The problem isn't limited to Ontario.)