No relief: Nunavut’s suicide death toll reached 32 in 2015

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. In 2015, 32 Nunavut residents died by suicide, the Office of the Chief Coroner said. (FILE PHOTO)

The death toll continues: in 2015, 32 people died by suicide in Nunavut, Nunavut’s Office of the Chief Coroner said Jan. 11.

That’s five more than the previous year, but well below the 45 Nunavummiut who took their own lives in 2013.

According to data obtained Jan. 11 by Nunatsiaq News from Nunavut’s chief coroner, an average of 32.8 people died by suicide in Nunavut in each of the past five years, from 2011 to 2015.

That’s up from the previous five-year average, from 2006 to 2010, of 28.2 deaths by suicide per year in Nunavut.

Consistent with suicide statistics gathered by Nunavut’s coroner since 1999, the overwhelming majority of those who died in Nunavut by suicide last year were Inuit men.

The Government of Nunavut declared Nunavut’s suicide rates, which are about 10 times higher than the national average, a “crisis,” on Oct. 22, 2015.

That announcement came after a two-week discretionary coroner’s inquest the previous month examined how Nunavut’s response to its high suicide rates could be improved.

The jury from that inquest declared suicide in Nunavut a public emergency, and issued over 30 sweeping recommendations largely aimed at the four members of Nunavut’s stalled suicide prevention plan: the GN, the Embrace Life Council, the RCMP and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

The jury also called on the federal government to establish a national suicide prevention plan, and to re-establish funding streams to Inuit organizations to enable them to properly fund suicide prevention initiatives.

The GN announced in Oct. 2015 that Health Minister Paul Okalik would be in charge of overseeing suicide prevention efforts, and that a Quality of Life Committee would be established to oversee the implementation of the jury’s recommendations.

Experts in the field of suicide prevention greeted the GN’s announcements with cautious optimism.

Padma Suramala, Nunavut’s chief coroner, said after the 2015 suicide inquest that her office would help monitor the implementation of the jury’s recommendations.

Last week, the four parties behind the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy promised a “re-commitment” to a better action plan that takes the jury’s recommendations into account.

If you are feeling distressed, you can reach the Kamatsiaqtut Help Line at 1-867-979-3333 or, toll-free, from Nunavik or Nunavut, at 1-800-265-3333.