Witness blames Nunavut government for failed suicide prevention plan

Natan Obed, director of social and cultural development at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. He testified Sept. 15 that high turnover and bureaucratic obstacles at the Government of Nunavut kept the Nunavut suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan from being properly implemented. (FILE PHOTO)

The Government of Nunavut is at least partly to blame for its ineffective suicide prevention strategy, Natan Obed, director of social and cultural development at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., said Sept. 15 at a special coroner’s inquest into Nunavut’s high suicide rates.

“Communication wasn’t always the best in the partnership,” Obed said.

NTI, the Government of Nunavut, the RCMP and the Embrace Life Council began work on the strategy in 2008 and released it in 2011 with an action plan.

For Obed, the high turnover of officials and the bureaucratic nature of the GN created obstacles at the table that made it difficult to achieve any decisive action.

NTI’s effort, he said, has always been there.

“I’m not meaning to be disrespectful, I just want to be practical,” said Obed, who stated that his main priority for the project has always been to achieve results.

“The GN needs to decide if it wants to be a part of the partnership.”

The suicide prevention strategy, said Obed, and its subsequent action plan, was deliberately written to be “foolproof” against bureaucratic mishandling.

Obed admitted to the inquest that even by anticipating those hurdles, the action plan still faced several challenges.

The Suicide Prevention Strategy Action Plan was a series of eight commitments by the four partners to develop suicide awareness, commit to studies on the issue and support mental health and community programs throughout Nunavut.

The GN didn’t sign off on the draft and instead tabled the document in rough form to the legislature, without consulting the other parties, Obed said.

“The action plan passed in a way that wasn’t as thorough as we would have hoped.”

The subsequent failure of the action plan prompted an evaluation led by the Embrace Life Council with funding from the Government of Canada.

The evaluation, done by Aarluk Consulting Inc., made 42 recommendations, some of which commented on the lack of communication between NTI and the GN. (See document embedded below.)

The report also called for a greater commitment by the organizations on supporting youth centres across the territory.

Obed told the inquest that NTI accepts all recommendations contained in the report, and strongly believes in the necessity of engaging Nunavut’s youth to prevent suicides.

“When we see attempts or completions from children that are 11 or 10 years old, like we heard yesterday [at the inquest], the questions that come up and the concerns that we have are that children at a very young age are exposed to not only the grief and the trauma of losing a loved one to suicide but also the understanding of how that act takes place,” said Obed.

“We know that suicide is normalized in Nunavut, unlike any other Canadian jurisdiction… For a territory to have suicide as a normal part of their lives it is highly unusual.”

During cross-examination, Obed admitted he was open to new methods of engaging regional Inuit organizations in dealing with suicide.

He also admitted the partnership could have done more to keep the public informed.

“We have tried to be as open and transparent as possible — we can do more,” said Obed.

Six jurors will hear testimony over the next two weeks from the government, Inuit organizations, academics and families affected by suicide.

They will be expected to submit recommendations to address Nunavut’s disturbing suicide numbers at the inquest’s conclusion Sept 25.

NSPS Evaluation FINAL Report June 2015