Suicide prevention expert doubts provincial strategy will cut high death rate
A leading suicide prevention expert says he’s doubtful Saskatchewan’s new suicide prevention plan will move the dial on the province’s high suicide rate.
Jack Hicks, who helped draft suicide prevention plans for Nunavut and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said the provincial government’s “Pillars for Life” strategy doesn’t have a clear path to implementation and sets goals that are “so vague as to be meaningless.”
“I am not confident this document will save lives,” Hicks said.
The strategy was introduced last week by Minister for Rural and Remote Health Warren Kaeding, who said it’s based on material from the Mental Health Commission of Canada and a review of services in other jurisdictions.
It sets out a list of Year 1 goals based on five central pillars: specialized supports, training, awareness, research and reducing potential for suicide in at-risk facilities like hospitals.
Hicks said it doesn’t get at the root of why Saskatchewan’s suicide rate, which was roughly double the national average in 2018, is so high in the first place.
Nor does it address the underlying reasons for high suicide rates among northern communities, Indigenous people or youth. The word “trauma” does not appear in the plan, which Hicks takes as a sign that First Nations and Metis concerns are not adequately represented. The document is only eight pages long, three of which are taken up by the bibliography and the introduction.
Hicks said those gaps raise questions about whether the plan is useful for guiding public policy.
“The suicide rate for a young First Nations woman is about 30 times the national average in that demographic,” Hicks said. “That’s the kind of statistic that demands an explanation.”
When asked, Kaeding said the plan is more of a “starting point” than a fixed strategy, saying its progression could change over time. He noted suicide is a complex problem and acknowledged there is no “silver bullet” to solve it, but argued that if the plan “saves just one life, then it is worth it.”
He said the plan aims to serve the entire population, which is why it doesn’t discuss specific communities at length.
NDP MLA Doyle Vermette twice tried to introduce suicide prevention legislation, spurred by disproportionately high rates of suicide in his constituency of Cumberland. He still believes a law is preferable to a plan, arguing it would improve oversight. Kaeding said the difference is negligible, arguing the two would have the same result but that legislation is more complicated.
Like Hicks, Vermette also has concerns about whether the document adequately addresses the need in First Nations communities. In December the federal government committed $2.5 million to the FSIN’S suicide prevention strategy after several First Nations in the province declared states of emergency over youth suicides.
Kaeding, at that time, said the province did not fund the strategy because “throwing money” at a plan was not a solution to the issue. When asked what the biggest existing gap in mental health services for rural and remote communities was, he said the main challenge is identifying when people need help.
Vermette said it’s a chronic lack of access to services in the north. He said many of his constituents have to wait weeks to book appointments, and that most of them are in major urban centres.
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger of self-harm or experiencing suicidal thoughts, please contact:
Crisis Services Canada (1-833456-4566), Saskatoon Mobile Crisis (306-933-6200), Prince Albert Mobile Crisis Unit (306-764-1011), Regina Mobile Crisis Services (306-525-5333) or the Hope for Wellness Help Line, which provides culturally competent crisis intervention counselling support for Indigenous peoples at (1-855242-3310).