Suicide prevention work not done
Embrace Life Council president wants strategy's mandate extended
Myles Dolphin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, February 3, 2014
NUNAVUT
Key policy makers in Nunavut are hoping to extend the territorial government's suicide prevention action plan beyond its March 31 expiration.
The plan, implemented in September 2011, will soon be evaluated by the organizations that put it together - the Embrace Life Council (ELC), the Government of Nunavut, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the RCMP.
The eight commitments outlined in the plan were designed to "reach a vision for Nunavut in which the rate of suicide is the same as the rate for Canada as a whole - or lower."
Sandra Kownak, president of the ELC, said the organization is currently working on an evaluation framework to be completed as a guide after March 31.
"We're hoping that the mandate of the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy is extended," she said.
"We are considering a Phase 2 of this plan to fulfill some of the outstanding commitments, if there are any. We want to ensure there are no gaps."
Kownak said the ELC has been working very hard with its partners to implement the commitments.
"I think the whole process of working together is the key to the success of the implementation of the strategy," she said, "and that's what we've been doing. The partnership system is working really well."
Her comments come on the heels of a recent announcement made by Nunavut's chief coroner, Padma Suramala, in which she revealed her plans to launch a "discretionary inquest" into suicide deaths in the territory.
Between 1999 and 2013, more than 430 Nunavummiut took their own lives.
The number of suicides per year was relatively stable until 2013, when it spiked to 45, the highest on record and an indication that suicide prevention strategies may not be as effective as previously thought.
Kownak said the ELC supports and respects the coroner's independence in calling for an inquest and hopes the research will include information gained from a comprehensive report titled Learning From Lives That Have Been Lived, a document the ELC contributed to between 2005 and 2010.
Health Minister Monica Ell said the government is working with its partners to extend and continue the implementation of the action plan and to evaluate what is working and what isn't. She added it's important not to draw any premature conclusions before the evaluation is completed.
"Even after an evaluation, I think we will need to be careful in attempting to determine exact results," she told Nunavut News/North in an e-mail.
"The hope would be that a reduction in the numbers of people taking their own lives could be viewed as the best-case scenario. However, that may be too simplistic, as it does not take into account all possible causes."
Ell said she would prefer to see the plan reviewed and then, after more consultation, amended or updated.
