Nunavut’s lower suicide number last year leads to cautious optimism – Nunatsiaq Online
January 30, 2018
“Our ultimate goal is to lower that number”
The year 2017 marks the lowest number of deaths by suicide that Nunavut has seen in a decade.
The Office of the Chief Coroner counted 25 suicides across the territory last year, down from 32 in 2016, and the lowest number in any given year since 2007.
But while researchers and mental health advocates in the territory can agree that the fewer deaths, the better, they say more data is needed to see if Nunavut’s suicide rate is actually on a downward trend.
“I don’t take the one-year statistics too deeply—it’s still a very high number,” said David Lawson, chair of the Iqaluit-based non-profit suicide prevention organization, the Embrace Life Council.
