Hobbema: Oil and Suicide (IN: The Dispossessed: Life and Death in Native Canada, by G York)

Hobbema is the center of 4 Cree Indian Reserves in central Alberta. In the mid 1970s, revenue from oil royalties poured into Hobbema, transforming the community from poverty to wealth. Social upheaval was traumatic. From 1985-87, the suicide rate for young men was 83 times the national average. An addictions treatment program, started in 1987, involved the whole community. In 2 years, suicides were no longer a problem. The impact of oil & gas revenues in other native communities is discussed.