Full statement from Manitoba children's advocate Darlene MacDonald: My office is aware of the situation in Pimicikamak Cree Nation and first, I want to send my thoughts and prayers to the youth, their families, and all community members in Cross Lake. Suicide is a critical issue our province is facing and my office has been focused on the issue of suicide and suicide prevention for many years. It is heartbreaking to lose anyone to a suicide death and this is especially true when it is a young person who is so full of promise and potential. I wrote to the federal minister for indigenous affairs, Dr. Carolyn Bennett, last week to urge her to include suicide deaths within the scope of the national inquiry being planned. If our indigenous youth are feeling so much despair that they are dying by suicide, the loss of these youth is a tragedy that must be included in the scope of national dialogue if we are to truly walk a path of reconciliation. And in the more immediate, communities like Pimicikamak Cree Nation need support and assistance. We need to ensure that youth have real opportunities to feel joy and experience hope in their home communities. Ensuring equitable access to support services and making solid investments in recreation, are some of the solutions we know that can work to prevent suicide deaths. As you know, my office is notified by the chief medical examiner of all deaths of all children and youth under the age of 18 in Manitoba. When we receive a notification, our staff determine if there has been child welfare involvement for the child or the child's family within the 12 months that preceded the death. If there has been involvement by CFS, including either an open file at the time of death, or a file that was closed within the previous year, by legislation those deaths are reviewable by my office. If a child dies while in care, their death would automatically be reviewable. The purpose of the review is to examine the services that were delivered to the child and his or her family and determine if the services that were delivered responded adequately to the needs of the child or their family. Current legislation expressly prohibits my office from confirming any information that could identify a person receiving child welfare services, so I am unable to comment on how many notifications I have received or how many deaths may be reviewed. New legislation that would allow greater discretion for my office to provide additional information was recommended in the final report of the Phoenix Sinclair inquiry. In December 2015, the government did introduce a bill that would improve our ability to share information with the public, but that bill remains before the legislature and it seems unlikely those changes will be made by the government before the house rises next week.