IQALUIT
The chief coroner's inquest into the high rate of suicide in the territory heard testimony from many witnesses over two weeks, beginning Sept. 14, often four or five each day, most with a fraught but determined perspective on this primary issue that plagues Nunavut.

Heartening testimony, although critical of the Government of Nunavut, came from Brian Mishara, a professor at Univertsite du Quebec a Montreal. Mishara, who has extensive years of working in suicide prevention internationally, testified Sept. 17.

"You can prevent suicide," insisted Mishara later, in a conversation with Nunavut News/North. "And I gave the example of the province of Quebec."

Mishara is also the director of CRISE, which means "crisis" in French, and is the acronym for the Centre for Research and Intervention on Suicide and Euthanasia.

"The suicide rates increased dramatically in the 1970s (in Quebec) and continued going up for every single year until 1999. In 1998 Quebec developed a suicide prevention strategy which is not that much unlike the one which Nunavut came up with," he said.

"The big difference is that Quebec funded it and got people to take responsibility for implementing it. And after it reached a peak in 1999, every single year afterwards, up until this point in time, suicides have gone down for every age group. And 10 years later, by 2009, the youth suicide rate was half what it was."

Mishara repeats: "You can prevent suicides when you implement a strategy. And there are plenty of other examples."

The inquest had heard earlier in the week that senior officials in the government of Nunavut (GN) had removed the funding column in the prevention strategy's action plan before it was tabled in the legislative assembly.

"That decision was made by key players," said Jack Hicks, a social researcher who helped develop the Nunavut Suicide Strategy and at one time worked as the GN's suicide prevention advisor. The result is "an implementation plan with no budget."

Meanwhile, even front-line government staff, who spoke of being overworked and under-resourced, testified that an action plan needs a budget, without being aware the original plan had a budget but was removed by superiors in the bureaucratic process.

"Like I said, if it came to saving my daughter's life, there is no amount of money I would not personally give to do that. I'd give everything," said Mishara. "I just find it totally unacceptable to try to come up with excuses for inaction."

Mishara's testimony stands in stark contrast to testimony given by Rosemary Keenainak, the Department of Health's assistant deputy minister, the following day. As the coroner's lawyer Sheldon Toner noted, Keenainak was the most senior GN employee that would take the stand during the inquest. Previous GN witnesses had testified that answering questions about the strategy and its action plan was beyond their scope.

Toner put pressure on Keenainak, and her answers kept with the GN script.

Regarding her responsibilities, Keenainak said she deals "more with the policy side."

Questioned on whether she would be involved in assessing the independent evaluation of the suicide prevention strategy, Keenainak said, "Eventually it will.

"The government of Nunavut is committed to working on suicide prevention," repeated Keenainak several times throughout her testimony.

Presiding coroner Garth Eggenberger at one point asked Toner to stop a line of questioning that Keenainak clearly couldn't address. The exchange between Toner and Keenainak continued to be a tortured attempt to suggest possible solutions - from Toner - with consistent responses outlining government process and protocol.

"Our approval process is, yes, more cumbersome and longer but when we're making policy and if there's a need for a government position, it needs to be approved at the highest level," said Keenainak.

Toner then asked, "That's not necessarily the case if you have someone put on the job who has the authority to make decision and has been given a mandate by cabinet?"

"I don't agree with that. That's your opinion," said Keenainak.

"You don't accept that proposition?" asked Toner.

"No," Keenainak replied.

Toner pressed: "So you don't accept the proposition that someone could be given a strong mandate, a strong authority to represent the GN on the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy implementation committee, that would eliminate much of the need to go back all the way to cabinet?"

"I think you're putting words in my mouth," said Keenainak. "What I'm trying to say is ... if it's a policy direction or a strategy, it needs to be approved at the highest level."

But the highest level was not present at the inquest. Frequently, Keenainak replied to questions with "Again, with the level of detail that you're asking, I'm not an expert on that."

Kathryn Kellough, the lawyer representing the Akumalik family, whose son Clyde died of suicide in 2013 and is one of two representative cases for the inquest, asked Keenainak if there "is a political will" to see a "particular person or body be given the mandate from the GN and its partners to address suicide prevention in Nunavut."

"I'm not the minister," said Keenainak.

Please see related story, page 6

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