0:05  
Elder Little Brown Bear has a long day. He's up every morning at 3am and on the road from his home, Newbury at four by 6am. He's in his office in East York at the Michael garron Hospital. Some days, he says he doesn't leave for home until 10 at night, but according to him, he's never missed a single day. Elder Little Brown Bear, a meaty elder, as the leader of the hospital's Aboriginal healing program. This program helps indigenous people heal from physical, mental and spiritual issues. Elder Little Brown Bear says he enjoys his work with the community, watching his people heal and find happiness.

0:43  
You know, when they come into the program, a lot of them are beaten down, have a lot of issues that they haven't dealt with, have low self esteem, guilt and shame. And after you know a little bit, they start to stay on their healing journey and then they get a little spark of life back in their eyes. And then they start to smile more.

1:03  
The program is one of many working to address issues of mental health that Indigenous peoples in Canada are facing today, particularly the youth. These are problems augmented by poor living conditions in many communities. It's a problem that Justin Trudeau acknowledged in his speech to the United Nations last September.

1:20  
There are Indigenous cat parents in Canada who say good night to their children and have to cross their fingers in the hopes that their kids won't run away or take their own lives in the night. 

1:33  
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is coming up on its third anniversary. This commission details 94 calls to action that Canada should take on to reconcile with the history of colonization. According to the CBC, none of the seven calls to action around health have been completed yet. Meanwhile, some communities have declared states of emergencies in fears of a suicide epidemic. Last year, Poppy Kika First Nation did such after two 12 year old girls took their own lives only a few days apart. This year, the Canadian government says they're devoting more funding to Indigenous communities. However, many say that if Canada is going to solve this issue, they need to take a look at what's going on beneath the surface.

2:19  
The indigenous population in Canada includes First Nations, Inuit and Metis people. According to the 2016 Canadian census, 4.9% of the population of Canada identifies as Aboriginal. Overall the numbers are growing 10 years ago in 2016. They made up 3.8% of the population suicide is the leading cause of death among indigenous people. According to the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. Rates of death by suicide among First Nations people are two times higher than the national average. Suicide rates are five to seven times higher for First Nations youth than non indigenous youth. Elder Little Brown Bear says he's found trauma to be a very widespread issue in these communities. 

3:02  
But I don't think there's there's not an Aboriginal person that hasn't been touched by intergenerational impacts of trauma.

3:12  
Tell me about your exams. I want to feel good about myself. 

3:15  
Well, I got five exams this semester.

3:19  
Right? No, not graduate. Oh, wait. I know what you're doing.

3:25  
Hi can I have a tall Java chip frappe? Sean Hillier is a PhD candidate in Policy Studies at Ryerson University and teaches in the Department of Sociology. He's a member of the Mi'kmaw First Nations band, Hillier's research focuses on First Nations health policy. Hillier says that the trauma indigenous people experience is the cause of mental health and well being issues. He says this trauma is a result of colonialism through actions of the Canadian government.

3:54  
Many Indigenous people, you know, have faced trauma directly or indirectly through intergenerational trauma. Where you know, they themselves have been pulled out of their communities and placed to residential schools where they face the most gruesome abuse that we can imagine.

4:09  
Hillier also points to the Indigenous People's History with the child welfare system as a source of trauma. In the 1960s children were removed on mass from their homes and placed in foster care. Today, more than half of the children in Canada's child welfare system are Indigenous.

4:25  
And at the core of this is a loss of culture, a loss of family, a loss of knowledge. Think about being a young child being ripped out of your family, and never knowing your culture, your history that takes a toll on people.

4:45  
People come to the Aboriginal healing program from as far as Sioux Sainte Marie, Windsor, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. Elder Little Brown Bear bear says they're often referred to the program for their time in the court system. He says distance can be an obstacle and making it to the Michael Garron Hospital, but that those whoare determined will find the means. 

5:06  
I had a fella that would ride the bus at night just to come to the program and he was from he was from very, and he stayed in Toronto to come to the program. And I can happily say that this fella has got his children back in his file has been closed.

5:19  
Elder Little Brown Bear says he blends mainstream knowledge with traditional ways of healing and his work. He says the program hosts conversations on grief, loss, forgiveness, and the benefits of releasing anger as opposed to quote unquote managing it. This is delivered with traditional methods of healing. He points to the four sacred medicines tobacco, sage, cedar, and sweet grass. These plants are typically burned in a ceremony called smudging. Elder Little Brown Bear says he also uses lavender to help those dealing with anxiety. He says that for people who seek treatment, the cultural factor is important. It makes the tumor different from health care centers they've gone to before.

5:57  
There's a void in the void is the cultural aspect to it. And they and they talk about that void that talk about the void that they've had. And when they come into the program, they say that void now has been filled. They don't feel whole again.

6:16  
Canada's federal government is responsible for supporting all services that Indigenous people access. This includes funding for on reserve services. In January 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found that the Canadian government is discriminating against First Nations children and their families. The tribunal said that the government is providing flawed Child Welfare Services and failing to implement Jordans principle. Jordans principle states that First Nations children on reserve have their health care costs covered by the federal government. When they're off reserve, the provincial government covers their health care This is to ensure that there are no gaps in health care services for Indigenous children. The Federal and Ontario governments now say they're putting $5 million towards establishing 19 new mental wellness teams for First Nations communities. However, Hillier says that in addition to trauma, the living conditions Indigenous youth face on reserves are part of the problem: poverty, hunger, dilapidated housing, rundown schools, and water that's unsafe to drink, bathe in or use it all. He says it's this kind of life that worsens the mental well being of young people. 

7:26  
We can't say to a young person that it's going to be okay when they don't have drinking water available to them. When they live in a house that's filled with mold when they don't have access to education, or internet or you know, any of those types of things. How do we tell them it's going to get better that their life is valuable and worthy when those very basic essentials that almost every other Canadian has, they don't have.

7:47  
In the 2018 federal budget, that government has said they plan to devote $5 billion towards Indigenous child welfare, health care, water, and housing. Hillier says that the problem over the years was that there has been no long term funding plans,

8:02  
There really isn't a dedicated pot of money. And when communities start to improve their health outcomes, the federal government recognizes that as Oh, Job well done, but now we have communities that are in need. So they pull the money out of that community to place it in other communities. What we see is that once that funding is gone, we see those health issues return back.

8:22  
Hillier says the cost provide these services and make repairs for remote areas is much more than it would be to do the same in a city like Toronto, or other cities in the southern parts of Canada. That's money, he says politicians would rather spend on initiatives that would appeal to the average Canadian voter,

8:39  
They're there to keep their job and to be elected and to maintain power until Canadians start to say, this is a priority and we want money allocated to the improvement of the lives of indigenous people. Governments are always going to say, you know, here's piecemeal amounts of money, which may end up being lots of money, but it's not enough to actually deal with the many systemic underlying issues that are at play.

9:08  
For Elder Little Brown Beatr, it's the trauma that needs to be addressed to deal with problems of mental illness and addiction.

9:14  
I've worked with enough individuals or community members to know that once you start dealing with trauma, and getting to the core of what's going on, a lot of times the mental health or addictions will not mimic each other. If you're depressed and you're drinking and alcohol is a depressant, of course, you're going to be depressed, you stop drinking, you stop being depressed.

9:33  
When asked what it means for a person to be healthy. This is what Elder Little Brown Bear said.

9:39  
They've actually dealt with some of the pain that they've been carrying for their lives. And they're able to bring their families back together. Because we work with the whole family. So if you talk holistic in the medicine wheel, bio, social, spiritual, we deal with the whole person, not just one sliver of the person. My philosophy has always been people don't care how much you know, but they do want to know how much you care.

10:04  
For RSJ radio. I'm Zahra Hamood.