Ottawa already knows where suicide is worst. Yet it still won’t act – The Star
A project to track suicide risks would be an innovative solution were it not for one problem: the government already knows where the risks are highest – in Indigenous communities.
Jan. 22, 2018
In early January, the federal government announced a contract with an Ottawa-based software company to run a pilot project that detects suicide risks through social media.
Advanced Symbolics Inc. will sift through posts from more than 160,000 public accounts, searching for indications of suicidal thoughts. Compiling this information on the basis of geographic region, they will determine which parts of the country urgently require suicide prevention resources, which the government would then distribute accordingly.
The project would be an innovative solution were it not for one problem: the government already knows where suicide risks are highest. And yet they have failed time and again to address the crisis.
