The Toronto Star is calling on a nationwide suicide prevention plan to be implemented as soon as possible. An editorial was published in Canada’s largest circulation-daily on Sept. 11 to following Suicide Prevention Awareness Day and to coincide with the end of the first week of the school year.
In June, high school students in Woodstock, Ont., organized a walkout from class to call attention to suicide prevention after five classmates took their own life between then and February. CMHA Oxford and CMHA Middlesex deployed 15 counsellors to attend the rally to provide immediate support in case participating youth found the event increased their risk for a mental health crisis.
The Star cited that the Canadian Medical Association Journal called for a national plan on Sept. 6. The paper also noted a prevention strategy was unveiled in July in Kuujjuaq, Quebec for all of Canada’s 60,000 Inuit after five young people died by suicide.
The Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario declared a state of emergency last April after 11 of its youth attempted suicide in just one weekend. Attawapiskat First Nation consists of roughly 2,800 people.
According to the Star, there is an example of a prevention strategy paying dividends in Canada.
Quebec cut its suicide rates in half among 15- to 19-year-olds – and overall suicides by a third –after it implemented a plan in 1999, the paper said.