Ottawa's Somali community needs more mental health services: settlement director

A director at the Somali Centre for Family Services in Ottawa says the stabbing deaths of two sisters over the weekend highlights the need for better psychiatric services in their community.

• Brother of 2 sisters stabbed to death charged with 1st- and 2nd-degree murder

Musab A-Noor, 29, has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his sisters Nasiba and Asma A-Noor Friday night.

Their bodies were found in a townhouse on McCarthy Road near Paul Anka Drive.

Musab A-Noor refused to leave his jail cell to go to court on Sunday and has now been ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment.

Abdul Yussef, settlement program director at the Somali Centre for Family Services, wouldn't comment onthe particulars of the A-Noor case but said there is stigma attached to talking about mental illness in the Somali community.

Yussef said better services need to be made available.

"In order to have that, therefore, you have to have professionals who have the quality to respond to the community needs. For example, psychiatrists who speak the mother language or who understand about the culture of the community," he said.

A-Noor is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.