The RCMP’s impressive work in locating a University of British Columbia student who planned to commit suicide online speaks well of the force’s commitment to helping those in distress. And given their heroic efforts, it would be fitting if the federal government demonstrated a similar commitment by developing and implementing a national suicide-prevention strategy.
A strategy could integrate research, treatment, education, crisis intervention and bereavement; it could identify best practices and act as a policy agenda in efforts to reduce a rarely discussed but all-too-common problem.
While few people are comfortable speaking about suicide, the numbers reveal just how common it is: According to the World Health Organization, nearly one million people commit suicide each year, which, astonishingly, is more than the number of people who die in wars and civil strife.
Despite Canada’s generally high standard of living, we are not immune from the problem: According to the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention ( CASP), more than 4,000 Canadians die from suicide each year, which amounts to more than 10 people a day. Compare that with the 610 homicides police reported in 2009.
And of 82 countries that report suicide statistics, Canada ranks 26th, which means our suicide rate is higher than nearly 70 per cent of reporting countries.
These statistics are only the tip of the iceberg, however, since there are many attempted suicides for every completed one. According to CASP, for every suicide, there are an estimated 22 emergency-room visits and five hospitalizations for suicide-related behaviours, which works out to about 88,000 emergency-room visits a year.
This takes a tremendous toll on those who attempt suicide, who sometimes have to live with permanent injuries, and also on family and friends. It takes a toll on society, too: The estimated cost of non-fatal suicide-related behaviours is $ 33,000 to $ 308,000 per person.
This is clearly a significant problem — one we would expect the government to tackle. And for a while, it looked as though the feds would In 1993, Canada hosted a meeting of experts to devise suicide-prevention guidelines for the United Nations.
The development of the guidelines led the UN and the World Health Organization to call on member nations to develop their own strategies, and many countries did so. The U. S. continues to move forward, recently announcing, on World Suicide Prevention Day ( Sept. 10) the formation of an alliance of public and private partners. Yet Canada has failed to follow through.
An article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal says the government offers several reasons for its failure to act. First, it says that the Mental Health Commission of Canada is responsible. Yet the Commission’s document outlining its framework for mental health, Toward Recovery and Well Being, makes little reference to suicide prevention.
The feds also suggest that a suicide-prevention strategy is a matter for the provinces, since they have jurisdiction over health. Some provinces, including British Columbia, have produced strategies, yet there is still the need for coordination at the federal level.
Suicide is not merely a health issue. As the CMAJ article emphasizes, it concerns “ education, labour, justice, religion, law, politics and even the media,” and federal leadership is essential.
Halifax NDP MP Megan Leslie and Ontario NDP MP Carol Hughes earlier this month introduced a private member’s bill calling on the feds to create a national suicide-prevention strategy. They said that they would withdraw the bill if the feds mount a “ large-scale effort to tackle suicide.”
It’s doubtful the bill would frighten the feds into action, since private member’s bills are rarely successful. But the feds should not need to be frightened into action. The suffering of individuals and their families, and the cost to society, should be enough motivation.
