A vigil was planned for Thursday evening at Carleton University to offer support for the people of Attawapiskat. The northern Ontario community is struggling with a spate of suicide attempts and people around this country are wondering what they can do to help. There have been vigils, sit-ins and marches. All with one thought in mind: to show this isolated community that they are not alone.

Carleton university students Laura Gagnon and Ashley Courchene are not from Attawapiskat but they feel an urgent need to reach out to the residents of that northern community marred by a spate of suicide attempts.

“I hope the people of Attawapiskat know we are there to support our brothers and sisters,” says Gagnon, “to show strength on behalf of them.”

The strength that Ashley Courchene found, too, in his darkest hours.

“I’ve been able to get out of it and can see how life can get better,” says Courchene.

The country's attention has focussed on the tiny community of Attawapiskat after reports of 11 suicide attempts in one day on Saturday. In the past year, more than 100 residents have tried to kill themselves. The Ontario government has sent in a team of crisis workers and Wednesday, committed an additional $2 million dollars towards long term solutions that could involve improvements to housing, to recreation and to health care.

“We’ve been in a crisis since the 70's,” says Jocelyn Iahtail, a former resident of Attawapiskat, who was part of the Carleton University vigil. Iahtail left the community in her teens and says the solution can't be found until the root cause is addressed which she believes stems from years of abuse and sexual abuse.

“My prayer is that if we get more people on team in alliance with truth and brave heart ways, we can secure that ability get on our healing journey,” she says.

Dr. Ian Manion has worked in the field of youth mental health for years as a clinical psychologist and Director of Youth Research Unit at the Royal. He says the situation in Attawapiskat and many northern communities across Canada “is terrible.”

“Yes, we need to do something right now,” says Manion, “but it needs to be part of concerted effort with longer term goals and change in mind.”

Dr. Manion says he is encouraged that young people in the community are starting to express ways to influence positive change.

“When young people are engaged in meaningful ways,” he says, “they are healthier both physically and emotionally and they engage in less risk taking behavior and the risk for suicide goes down.”

He says parents can turn this tragedy into a teachable moment.

“At dinner tables all over country,” he says, “parents and kids are talking about what's going on. But let's make sure we understand the history, let's make sure we understand the strengths of communities and the strength of their culture and what we can learn from that.”

Dr. Manion says parents can also use this opportunity to talk to their own kids about suicide, to make sure the young people up north are safe but also make sure the young people in our communities are, too.