Despite spending millions on prevention, feds don’t keep track of suicide epidemic of Indigenous people – APTN News
March 27, 2018
Millions of dollars are spent every year to fight suicide epidemics amongst Indigenous peoples in Canada but the federal government collects little to no data about the actual suicide rates.
There is a serious lack of record keeping by all levels of governments and coroners’ offices when it comes to suicide deaths of Indigenous people, APTN Investigates has confirmed by requesting data from each province.
Cindy Blackstock, the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, said she is troubled the federal government isn’t tracking suicide data.
“I’m disappointed that we’re still not at a place were we’re keeping track of the number of attempts and deaths by suicide,” said Blackstock.
