Editorial Introduction

Suicide among Indigenous people, especially the young, is a hot topic in our society today. Rarely a week goes by where a news story is not written about the epidemic of Indigenous youth suicide or the rash of Indigenous suicides. While all suicides are tragic, we disagree with the characteristics often ascribed to Indigenous suicide and believe that a disservice is being done to indigenous peoples around the world by making grandiose overstatements about suicide in communities when virtually no research exists that would back up claims one way or the other. Part VI, the aboriginal section, seeks to draw attention to developments in this arena and to further the dialogue around suicide in indigenous populations around the world.