James Smith Cree Nation chiefs heading to national Indigenous wellness summit

Chiefs from James Smith Cree Nation are heading to Toronto for the National Summit on Indigenous Mental Wellness on Friday.

“I’m looking forward to helping with the process on how we can heal (and) at the same time bringing the resources back to the community,”said James Smith Cree Nation Chief Wally Burns.

Burns and Chief Rob Head from James Smith’s tri-community Peter Chapman Band will attend the summit.

Burns says the Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu invited them to attend the summit when she visited James Smith Cree Nation in person last week.

The office of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) says the summit was planned prior to the mass stabbing in the community on Labour Day weekend.

The summit will bring together Indigenous partners, experts and front-line workers to share information about best practices in promoting Indigenous mental health and wellness. Suicide prevention and substance use are among the topics, says the ISC office.

James Smith's band council has implemented the use of security guards to patrol the reserve. There is also an increased RCMP presence in the community since the mass stabbing.

Over the long term, Burns says he wants to see a tribal police force operating on the First Nation, as well as addiction awareness and treatment centres.

“We’re going to be speaking in Toronto about that, also the mental health piece with other ministers,” said Burns.

“I think it’s going to be a good meeting.”

Burns says housing is an issue with only 261 houses on James Smith and about 1,200 band members living on reserve.

“It causes a lot of grief and overcrowding - mental and physical. We need to adjust and ask the government for more housing,” he said.

Burns says in total James Smith has about 4,000 band members, the remainder live off reserve.

He says he doesn't believe housing wasn’t a catalyst for the mass stabbing.

“I think it's how choices are made. And the way I look at it through the residential school and what happened to our parents and through generation to generation of trauma and that was handed down.”

He says addictions are an issue in the community and contributed to the tragedy.

“Not only in James Smith, it’s all over the place in our province, in Canada and around the world.”

He says bringing back cultural teachings have been effective in helping people deal with addictions in his community.

Burns says he doesn't use alcohol or drugs and is looking for ways to change the paths of some band members.