124 people have taken their own lives over past nine years

More than 10 times the national rate, statistics in Gazette investigation reveal

At least 124 people in Nunavik have taken their lives in the past nine years. The latest numbers on northern suicide, provided by the Quebec coroner, point to a long-standing crisis that appears to be getting worse. The region went from having 13 suicide deaths per year in 2015 to 16 the following year and 22 in 2017. About one in 100 people in Quebec’s North are taking their own lives — a statistic that doesn’t include suicide attempts or self-harming behaviour. If that same rate were applied to a city the size of Montreal, 17,000 residents would be dying by suicide each year. These figures, obtained by the Montreal Gazette, come as Inuit in the remote, sparsely populated region renewed calls last week for the federal and provincial governments to take “urgent action” over the prevalence of suicide in their communities. Local leaders rang the alarm bell during an Oct. 30 meeting in Kuujjuaq to address northern Quebec’s latest crisis, which has seen 15 people take their lives in less than 10 months. The meeting, which gathered people from Nunavik’s network of villages, had to be interrupted so community members could attend the funerals of two people who had recently died by suicide. The national suicide rate is about 11 deaths per 100,000 residents. In Nunavik, that number is 116 per 100,000. Taken as a whole, the numbers don’t address the depth of each tragedy. Almost everyone in Nunavik’s remote villages is connected through kinship or marriage, amplifying the effect of each loss. Three of Sevim Ilgun’s closest relatives are first responders in Quaqtaq — a village of just 400 residents. During an Oct. 14 intervention, Ilgun’s sister, her brother and cousin all tried frantically to revive a suicide victim. Ilgun says her sister can still feel that trauma in her bones. “My sister didn’t sleep for few days,” said Ilgun, a youth leader in Quaqtaq. “She told me the dead person was frozen in her arms.” Ilgun describes the way suicide is tearing her community apart; it has forced school closures and it’s caused parents to lash out because they don’t know where to turn or who is responsible for the tragedy unfolding before their eyes. Studies link the suicide crises in remote Indigenous communities to Canada’s colonialist policies, which have forced the Inuit away from their traditional lifestyle and into overcrowded, poorly built houses. But experts say another factor that puts a person at risk of selfharm is the loss of a loved one to suicide. Given the scale of the problem in Nunavik, it’s hard to overlook that aspect of the problem. The Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services (NRBHSS) — which oversees health care in the region — has met with provincial and federal authorities in the hope of preventing further loss of life. Indigenous Services Canada has authorized $460,000 to be transferred from a flexible fund directly to the NRBHSS’s mental health and wellness budget. The federal agency will provide $3.1 million in funding for mental-health resources in the health board’s 20182019 budget. “The loss of life from suicide is a tragedy beyond measure,” said William Olscamp, a spokesperson for ISC. “We are deeply concerned about the recent loss of lives by suicide in the Nunavik region.” In a broader effort to combat suicide in Inuit communities across Canada’s North, the federal government transferred $9 million in 2016 to regional governments for the National Inuit Suicide Prevention Strategy. The money goes toward research on suicide, training community members in suicide-prevention strategies and supporting families whose children are in the youth protection system. In Nunavik alone, 300 people have been certified in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training. Last week, the Montreal Gazette asked the office of Quebec’s new Indigenous affairs minister, Sylvie D’Amours, for an update on the government’s response to the suicide crisis. There has been no reply as yet. Government representatives are to meet with the NRBHSS on Nov. 16. Meanwhile, a Nunavik family that recently lost a niece to suicide has launched an online petition urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to declare a state of emergency. So far, 13,000 people have signed the document.