Big Nunavut suicide prevention summit starts May 4

Two marchers in Cambridge Bay, carrying an Embrace Life banner and small candles, lead the way for others in an event held Sept. 10, 2013 to mark World Suicide Prevention Day. This Friday, May 6, organizers plan a memorial walk at 6 p.m., starting at the Frobisher Inn, to remember family and friends lost to suicide. (FILE PHOTO)

A summit on suicide prevention gets underway in Iqaluit this week, when stakeholders in the Nunavut suicide prevention plan, and others, meet from May 4 to May 6, a joint news release said.

The group call themselves Atausiuqatigiingniq Inuusirmi, or “United for Life.”

The stakeholders in the suicide prevention plan are the Government of Nunavut, the Embrace Life Council, the Nunavut RCMP and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

The joint announcement says the summit “will bring together community wellness leaders, Inuit organizations, businesses, treatment organizations, survivors and other stakeholders to share best practices, learn from each other and develop a long-term action plan for suicide prevention.”

Holding such a summit was one of more than 30 recommendations made by a jury at the special coroner’s inquest into Nunavut’s high suicide rates, held in September 2015 in Iqaluit.

That inquest, which embarrassed the GN and NTI for a lack of results on previous suicide prevention efforts, prompted the GN to declare suicide in Nunavut a “crisis” in October 2015.

In March, the stakeholders of the suicide prevention plan released a one-year stop-gap plan and said a longer-term plan would be developed at the May summit.

The one-year plan includes a mobile trauma unit, improved tracking of suicide-related statistics and a commitment to develop a strategy to reduce the high rate of child sex abuse incidents in Nunavut.

The summit is not open to the public, but those wishing to participate and relate their experiences can register on Atausiuqatigiingniq Inuusirmi’s website by clicking here.

The release said the public can also attend evening events held May 4 to May 6 to coincide with the summit:

• a free concert on May 4 at 6 p.m. featuring Nunavut musicians Kelly Fraser and Hyper T in the Koojesse Room at the Frobisher Inn;

• square dance and games May 5 at 6 p.m. at Nakasuk School; and,

• a memorial walk May 6 at 6 p.m. that starts at the Frobisher Inn to remember family and friends lost to suicide.

For more information, you can contact Kim Masson of the Embrace Life Council at 975-3233.