Kuujjuaq needs professional help!

I want to say so much but it’s very hard since the topic is so painful. I want to talk about Kuujjuaq. I’ve lived there for many years and it has such beautiful land and many people who are very good people. It’s sad to have good people who want to help being ignored and harassed by the sick people who need help. It seems to be getting worse.

First of all, everyone knows all the social problems with drugs, alcohol, and abuse. It’s like there are different kinds of people in Kuujjuaq: the alcoholics, the ex-alcoholics who turn to religion, which is also an addiction, and there’s the people who quit drinking but have one big binge a year and make a fool of themselves. I mean not everyone, but the basic population.

This is a bad mix of people in a small village. Then, there’s racism and people who have power trips, I mean there’s so much to discuss. We need professional help!

The province of Quebec has the highest rate of suicide in the world because of Nunavik. People are getting eaten by dogs. People are beating on the ones they are supposed to love and protect. The system is corrupt.

There is something we are not doing obviously. The court system is extremely easy on Inuit offenders. Someone who committed attempted murder was let out and he killed, this happened twice now. I mean, are these judges doing what’s best for the people of Kuujjuaq?

Yes, the police help but is anything really getting better? There are programs for drug and alcohol abuse, but are they all really qualified to help? Many use religion to help drug abuse, but what if you are not religious? You still want help and counselling.

Yes, praying may help but what really helps is speaking up and getting involved. Are Kuujjuaq and Nunavik leaders giving their all? Are they trying and fighting so hard that they become emotionally involved? I don’t know.

Doesn’t it make you sick to your stomach when you hear someone committed suicide again or someone was murdered or found dead in a ditch? It is not normal. Most people who live in civilised societies have never known someone who was murdered or committed suicide.

In Nunavik, every person has a friend or a loved one who committed suicide or died in some tragic way. The thing is, a lot of people are getting used to bad news. When something bad happens, it doesn’t seem as shocking any more. Seems to be becoming part of life up north.

Over my lifetime, as an example, around 50 people I knew personally, passed away, and not by natural causes. Maybe we can’t do it as a community, maybe we need a lot of professional assistance, people with university degrees, not just someone who’s uneducated and who needs a job. We need to take these problems to the highest level possible. Do you want your children to be murderers or to be suicidal or to get killed or to drunk drive or beat up their loved ones? Nobody wants that.

Maybe we should have live radio with our leaders on the air for questions and comments once a month or something. The public needs to know what is going on in their town and what is being done. Maybe this will be a good start to a better life in Kuujjuaq and Nunavik. Thank you for listening and I hope we can all do our part in making our small villages more safe, happy, and brighter.

(Name withheld by request)
Kuujjuaq