Suicide prevention gets $35M boost
Suicide prevention strategy receives robust action plan and resources
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, July 17, 2017
NUNAVUT
The territory's 2010 suicide prevention strategy finally has an action plan to match, and the human and financial resources to back it up.
Lizzie Aliqatuqtuq lights the qulliq before the official launch of a five-year action plan for suicide prevention. The qulliq, a source of warmth, light and nourishment, stood as a symbol of life and hope. - photo courtesy Dept. of Health |
The five-year plan, called Inuusivut Anninaqtuq - United for Life, was announced on June 26 in a Facebook event. Community-centred and based on input from a summit held the precious year, the Government of Nunavut has committed funding of $35 million over five years.
Those funds will be divided, with $16 million paying for community-led action projects, $4.4 million funding mobile Inuktitut counseling services and $12 million going to the Quality of Life Secretariat to cover research, training and gatherings. An additional $2 million will go to Isaksimagit Inuusirmi Katujjiqaatigiit (Embrace Life Council).
It's been a long time coming.
At a discretionary coroner's inquest into the high rate of suicide in the territory, held in September 2015, experts called the 2010 strategy a gold standard. But the Government of Nunavut failed to fund suicide prevention efforts or work with Isaksimagit Inuusirmi Katujjiqaatigiit, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) and the RCMP.
"I see it as a watershed moment for suicide prevention in Nunavut," said Jack Hicks, who appeared as an expert witness at the 2015 inquest and helped develop the 2010 strategy. "It's an impressive response to the recommendations from the coroner's jury that government get their act together. And I think they really have. You see here government putting serious money on the table."
He added there was a "real spirit of partnership" between the GN and the different partners now, something he said was "falling apart" before the inquest.
Hicks also says the partners have set a standard that make it hard for future governments to walk back from.
"There's all kinds of activities scheduled to be taking place, with resources to support them," he said.
Most importantly, Hicks says there's a strong commitment to evaluation.
"Given that it's public money that is being spent, it's entirely appropriate. In 2017 the days of spending a lot of money on something and not doing an evaluation are over. There needs to be some degree of assurance that the money is, in fact, targeting suicide prevention," he said.
Both associate deputy minister for the Quality of Life Secretariat Karen Kabloona and NTI's assistant director of social and cultural development Aqattuaq Kiah Hachey appeared relieved to finally have a plan in place.
"I think the time was right. People still really had difficulty speaking about this and figuring out what to do. Things have evolved," said Kabloona.
Embrace Life Council president David Lawson said communities can come to the council for help in writing proposals for community-specific funds, as well as reports. In fact, while the GN is the central location for the bureaucratic processes, the council is the hub of community-accessible resources.
"That gives me a lot of confidence for the future, that the GN is actually parceling out responsibilities and working in the true spirit of partnership," said Hicks.
Hicks says measuring progress will depend on how root causes of suicide are perceived and how the process of prevention works. He says the language in the action plan on specific data collection is "a bit fuzzy."
"There have been academics that think suicide prevention is like a tap and if communities take the right actions, suicide stops altogether. It might sound stupid but there are actually people who make those arguments," said Hicks.
"But the logic of the NSPS (Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy) is that the elevated rate of suicide in Nunavut is the result of intergenerational trauma.
"So the logic of that is there are an awful lot of people who have been affected by that and there's an awful lot of people who have attempted suicide or considered it and that carries a risk over the life course ... A lot of people need quality, culturally appropriate services."
He thinks it will be possible to see a decrease in rates in the five-year time frame, but the ten-year mark will provide a better sense of improvement.
Ultimately, Hicks believes the action plan will save lives.
"That's worth celebrating," he said.
"I think indigenous people all over the world are going to look at this document and say, 'That's serious commitment,'" he said. "Look what Nunavut has accomplished. This is what a strategy can do."
