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OTTAWA — Jean Chrétien’s solution to the misery and heartache of life in a remote First Nation such as Attawapiskat is a simple one: move.

“There is no economic base there for having jobs and so on,” the former prime minister said Tuesday, “and sometimes they have to move, like anybody else.”

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Chrétien, who was at Parliament Hill on unrelated business, also served as minister of Indian affairs and northern development from 1968 to 1974.

“I was (involved in) this problem in 1968, a long time ago, it takes time and patience and there’s always tragedies of that nature that occur.”

Attawapiskat, a remote First Nation of about 2,000 is so overburdened by a rash of suicide attempts that three of the reserve’s four health-care workers have been sent to Thunder Bay for counselling and rest as reinforcements come in to help, Anna Betty Achneepineskum of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation said.

“There are so many things that are needed here,” she said. “So many things.”