Pangnirtung waits for GN, RCMP support on suicide, violence

Government of Nunavut and RCMP officials are expected to respond tonight, at a special meeting of the Pangnirtung hamlet council, to a call issued by the Hamlet of Pangnirtung that asks for more mental health support and violence prevention in the Baffin community of about 1,500 people.
(PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)

What comes next in the Hamlet of Pangnirtung’s work aimed at stopping suicide and violence in the community now depends on the GN and the RCMP, hamlet councillor Markus Wilcke says. (PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)

PANGNIRTUNG—“An urgency” is how Pangnirtung’s hamlet council describes its plea for help in its ongoing struggle with attempted suicide and alcohol-related violence, says hamlet councillor Markus Wilcke.

That’s why, within weeks of receiving a formal letter of invitation from the hamlet, Government of Nunavut and RCMP officials are flying in today for a special meeting of the hamlet council in the east Baffin community of about 1,500 people.

That meeting will take place at 7 p.m. today, at the hamlet complex.

“This is the response of the government to council,” Wilcke said, speaking with Nunatsiaq News on Monday evening at his home in Pangnirtung.

After 12 community members attempted suicide in February, the mayor and councillors chose to seek support from the Department of Justice, and from the ministers responsible for homelessness, suicide prevention, and the Nunavut Housing Corp., Wilcke said.

“They were an alarm signal,” Wilcke said, adding that often these attempts are closely linked to alcohol-related violence.

“We need services people can access long before they are so desperate that they think about suicide.”

Wilcke, a retired nurse, has been fielding media requests about the hamlet council’s mental health and violence response plan, which is now receiving national attention.

“Any violence, any suicide attempt, causes trauma, and carries with it the risk of a life lost,” Wilcke said. “If our community leaders are in a position to prevent that, we see it as our role and our responsibility to act.”

The GN confirmed Friday that officials who work in mental health, poverty reduction, public safety, as well as at the Department of Justice, will attend the meeting.

An RCMP delegation will include the commanding officer of the Nunavut RCMP, Michael Jeffrey.

Community members who work with the soup kitchen and a wellness group in Pangnirtung will also attend.

“It’s difficult to know what they will offer and how our talks will go,” Wilcke said. “We would hope it opens a dialogue.”

Statistics cited in a letter sent by the hamlet council to the GN shows alarmingly high calls from Pangnirtung to the Ontario Centre for Poison Control during February and March. And over the last two years, calls made to RCMP from Pangnirtung have doubled.

Wilcke said support systems haven’t kept up with these developments.

“Just two days ago we had another stabbing in the co-op store,” he said.

“You don’t need to do any extensive research.… The fact that these things happen means that not enough is done to prevent these things from happening.”

When a suicide attempt is made or a suicide happens in the community, “there is a sadness, a despair and a sense of exasperation,” Wilcke said.

“There’s a general sense of, ‘oh, not again,’ and ‘when will it ever end’ … and ‘will it get worse.’”

The hamlet has its eye on an old GN building, vacant for the past nine years, which could be turned into an emergency shelter for residents who need a way to escape from violence.

Previously used as a health centre, the space is the right size and is in a good location, Wilcke said.

“Whether they will hand it over, we do not know. That is what we hope. All we need is a building,” Wilcke said.

“Once we know what they can offer we can look at what the community can do.”