Recent research into the disturbingly high rates of suicide among Native youth has led to the proclamation that “modernization and suicide are linked.”
Researcher Jack Hicks discovered that the suicide rates
among Inuit in Alaska, Nunavut, and Greenland increased in the first generations
born in towns, after governments had moved whole communities off their
traditional lands. In all three countries, a new way of life imposed by
governments significantly disrupted the livelihood and cultural-spiritual
heritage of Native peoples. It is important to ask, why is the suicide rate for
the Inuit population 11 times Canada’s national average and how it is connected
with modernization of Inuit life?
Around the world, suicide rates are generally higher for modernized countries
than for those less modernized. So what is it about modern society that leaves
individuals with the sense that suicide is the only choice? Does the
materialistic, desacralized, individualistic approach to life in modern society
leave people empty and alienated, without a sense that they are integral to the
whole community?
When we are cut from a vision of life that includes
spiritual values and a sense of interconnectedness with all realms, is it more
difficult to perceive and fulfill our unique purpose in the world? If we are cut
from our own roots and live only “for the moment,” how can there be a future? If
we feel powerless and hopeless against “the powers that be,” how can we exercise
our capacities and know our own inner resources?
To stem the suicide-tide eventually, let us contribute to building societies
based on spiritual values such as respect, dialogue, courtesy, honour …starting
in our own day-to-day reality. Let us clarify our history and project meaning
into our future. Let us give more priority to the nurturing of each individual,
to the development of collective responsibility.
