Last week, Amanda Lathlin Spoke in the Manitoba legislature and said that there is a mental health crisis happening among Northern Youth.

She said the crisis is linked to the higher rates of poverty and addictions in the North and indigenous youth are six times more likely to commit suicide than their peers and they stand a higher chance of dealing with substance abuse.

She added that there aren’t enough mental health resources available in the North and in order to see a psychiatrist Northern youth have to leave their home and travel hundreds of miles from their friends and families and most first nations communities don’t have mental health professionals.

Lathlin concluded her statement saying quote Northern Manitobans Deserve better and the government needs to step up and fund Northern mental health programming.