Inuit orgs: suicide prevention means closing the gaps

Scores of Ottawa Inuit and their supporters gathered at Parliament Hill on World Suicide Prevention Day Sept. 10 for a noon-hour celebration of life. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

Terry Audla, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, speaks Sept. 10 at a celebration of life held on Parliament Hill: “We need to close the gaps in early childhood education, culture and language, livelihoods, income distribution, housing, safety and security, education, availability of health services, mental wellness…,” Audla said. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

Two little throat singers from the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Choir perform at a celebration of life held Sept. 10 on Parliament Hill. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

Maatali Okalik, president of the National Inuit Youth Council, at a celebration of life Sept.10 on Parliament Hill: ““We as Inuit are breaking the barrier of the stigma towards mental health and suicide in our own unique ways,” she said. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

OTTAWA — You can’t reduce the appalling rates of death by suicide among Inuit without wide-ranging efforts aimed at fixing the social environment in which Inuit live, two Inuit leaders said Sept. 10 at a World Suicide Prevention Day event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

“We Inuit youth want to see suicide eradicated. We as Inuit youth want a renewed relationship with our country to see a reversal of the grim statistics of suicide among Inuit…,” the president of the National Inuit Youth Council, Maatalii Okalik, said in a speech.

“No one individual or government is responsible for suicide prevention. Today’s celebration of life event is a reminder of the collaboration that is required in embracing life and preventing suicide,” she said.

And Okalik said that Inuit youth are now “becoming more aware of the facts.”

“We as Inuit are breaking the barrier of the stigma towards mental health and suicide in our own unique ways,” she said.

About 100 Ottawa Inuit, along with friends and supporters, gathered under the noon-hour sun at Parliament Hill for the event, which featured entertainment from Etulu Aningmiuq, Saali Keelan, Nunavut Sivuniksavut and the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Choir.

The event also preceded a special two-week inquest into deaths by suicide in Nunavut which is set to start Sept. 14 in Iqaluit.

That inquest, announced by the chief coroner for Nunavut, Padma Suramala, in January 2014, is aimed at exploring the social conditions that lie behind those deaths.

Terry Audla, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, drew attention to those social conditions in a speech that drew frequent rounds of applause.

“How do we begin to reduce the disproportionate rates of suicide among Inuit? It’s starts with equality,” Audla said.

“We need to close the gaps in early childhood education, culture and language, livelihoods, income distribution, housing, safety and security, education, availability of health services, mental wellness…”

Those things he said, form the “environment” that make up the social determinants of Inuit health.

And that includes fixing what he called the “critical lack of infrastructure in Inuit Nunangat” and ensuring that Inuit gain access to appropriate mental health services.

Statistics for Nunavut released this month by the Nunavut coroner show 486 people have died by suicide in the territory since 1999: 393 males and 93 females. Of those 486 deaths, only seven were non-Inuit.

In 2015, Nunavut has so far suffered 26 deaths by suicide, with six occurring in Iqaluit and three in Baker Lake.

Fourteen other communities have each experienced one or more deaths by suicide this year: Pangnirtung, Clyde River, Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay, Hall Beach, Rankin Inlet, Arviat, Whale Cove, Coral Harbour, Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Taloyoak, Kugaaaruk and Gjoa Haven, the coroner’s statistics reveal.

“All Canadians should be appalled by our alarming rates of suicide in Canada and I ask all of you here today to ask more from our governments when it comes to supporting Inuit in building healthier and stronger communities,” Audla said, pointing out that suicide is responsible for 40 per cent of deaths among Inuit youth in Canada.

In her speech, Maatalii Okalik said that at last month’s general meeting of the NIYC, she asked how many people at the gathering had been affected by suicide.

“Nearly every person raised their hand,” she said.

But she said that Inuit are capable of eradicating suicide through individual and collective action.

“We believe in our resiliency. We at the National Inuit Youth Council know that now is the time for Inuit, both young and old, to embrace life together…,” she said.

And she said NIYC will continue to make suicide a priority and “seek more partnerships with individuals, organizations and governments to address this epidemic.”

Audla also urged Inuit to build resiliency within themselves.

“Remember that you are strong. Celebrate your lives and appreciate what it means to be alive. For those of you who are contemplating suicide, I can only say, there is a tomorrow. Survive and persevere,” he said.

The Sept. 10 celebration was organized by the NIYC and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami with help from Nunavut Sivuniksavut, Tungasuvvingat Inuit, the Pauktuutit national Inuit women’s association and the Ottawa Suicide Prevention Network.

During the event, Audla accepted a $25,000 cheque from the Bell Let’s Talk program to help ITK create a national Inuit suicide prevention strategy.

Audla said it will be an “evidence-informed strategy” guided by ITK’s mental wellness advisory committee, which will work with the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health.

People who struggle with suicidal thoughts may contact the Kamatsiaqtut help line in Iqaluit at (867) 979-3333 or toll-free at 1(800) 265-3333, from 7 p.m. to midnight.

Students from the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program singing and drumming at a celebration of life held Sept. 10 on Parliament Hill. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)