A spokesman for several Indigenous communities in northern Ontario says four people, including three children, have committed suicide within the last week.
Michael Heintzman of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation says a boy between the ages of 10 and 12 and a 12-year-old girl died over the weekend in Pikangikum, Ont., a First Nations community near the Ontario-Manitoba border.
On Tuesday, a 15-year-old committed suicide in Summer Beaver, Ont., north of Fort Hope.
And a day later, a 21-year-old man from the Fort Severn First Nation died in a Thunder Bay, Ont. medical centre.
Heintzman says there have now been eighteen suicides within the Nishnawbe Aski Nation's territory since January 1 of this year.
The Canadian Rangers, an organization within the Armed Forces that typically serves remote areas, have been in the region to assist several communities affected by the suicide crisis.