Nunavut suicide inquest now set for September 2015

Justice Minister Paul Okalik confirmed in the legislature May 29 that an inquest into Nunavut’s record rate of suicides in 2013 will finally go forward in September 2015. (FILE PHOTO)

(Updated with inquest dates, June 1 at 11:58 a.m.)

After a one-year delay, Nunavut’s Office of the Chief Coroner will schedule an inquest in September 2015 into the high number of suicides that plague the territory.

That’s according to Nunavut’s justice minister, Paul Okalik, who provided information at the legislature in Iqaluit May 29 about the upcoming inquest.

A news release issued June 1 by Nunavut’s Office of the Chief Coroner said the inquest would take place at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit from September 14 to September 29.

The inquest is discretionary. That means it’s not mandatory, but called at the discretion of the coroner’s office.

Six members of the public will be selected to sit as jurors, tasked with making recommendations after hearing testimony from family members of three people who died by suicide in 2013, chief coroner Padma Suramala said at a media event in January 2014.

The inquest is meant to “highlight risk factors and warning signs, raise public awareness and facilitate making recommendations to avoid preventable deaths in the future,” Suramala said at the time.

Suramala announced the inquest 16 months ago after revealing that a record 45 people died by suicide in Nunavut in 2013.

In March 2014 Suramala said three of those suicides would form the focus of the inquest — to be held later that same year — and that all suicides in 2013 would be reviewed during the course of the inquest to determine risk factors.

But in October 2014 Suramala pushed the inquest back to March 2015, citing “time constraints.” She also said the inquest would now look at five suicides rather than three.

“The coroner has been struggling to try and find families [affected by suicide in 2013] that will be agreeable [to testifying at] the inquest,” Okalik said during oral question period in the assembly May 29.

Okalik was responding to questions posed by South Baffin MLA David Joanasie.

“The inquest will assist us in determining the causes and trying to find solutions to the real issue of suicide in our territory,” Okalik said, adding, “as I understand it, the coroner will be holding an inquest into three suicides this September.”

There seems to be a discrepancy as to whether the inquest will focus on three or five suicides that occurred in Nunavut in 2013.

Joanasie also asked Okalik if he could provide suicide statistics for 2014 and 2015 in Nunavut.

There were 27 deaths by suicide in 2014, and 16 so far in 2015, Okalik said.

Joanasie asked if Okalik could provide an update on the territory’s suicide prevention task force. Okalik took that question as notice.

The chief coroner’s June 1 news release said anyone interested in participating or presenting at the inquest can call (867) 975-7292.