The NDP is calling on the Saskatchewan government to implement a suicide prevention strategy.
Cumberland MLA Doyle Vermette tabled a bill that would aim to reduce suicides in the province in November.
The provincial government didn’t pass Bill 613, the Saskatchewan Strategy for Suicide Prevention Act.
“It died on the order paper before we could work on it and past it,” says Vermette. “We still need a strategy for suicide prevention.”
Vermette plans to reintroduce the bill in October.
“In the North and some of our aboriginal areas, people are hit really hard,” adds Vermette. “It’s a crisis. We’ve got to work together. People and families in the North are desperate for help. They feel like they have nowhere to turn. I have been to far too many funerals for young kids who lost hope and didn’t have the supports available. This can’t continue — that is why we’re calling on the government to act.”
There were 209 suicides last year in Saskatchewan according to the Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service, which is a 16 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
“The need for a suicide strategy couldn’t be clearer, but this government is nowhere to be found,” says Danielle Chartier, the Saskatchewan NDP’s mental health and addictions critic. “Several other provinces have already implemented a suicide strategy, while Saskatchewan falls behind, leaving more and more people teetering on the edge. A suicide prevention strategy will save lives.”
(PHOTO: Doyle Vermette. Photo courtesy of Doyle Vermette’s Facebook page.)