NO WAY UP

Where do you go when there’s no way up? Tragically, all too often in the Canadian Arctic that desperate search ends in suicide. Lots of them. When one lost life is too many, suicide rates in our Arctic are 11 – 28 times the national average (depending on locale and age). Teen suicide is a huge mental health issue in the far north – some hamlets suffering several per month. Future generations may suffer the most as teens comprise the majority of suicides in a region of Canada where 57% of the population is under age 25.

According to Health Canada, the suicide rate per 100,000 people in Canada is:

Canadian overall average: 12

Inuit overall average: 135

Inuvialuit region: 61

Nunatsiavut region: 239

Nunavik region: 181

Nunavut region: 120


Some of the causes:

Abject poverty

Hunger

Deplorable housing

Emerging new diseases

Poor educational achievement

Extreme unemployment

Loss of traditional lifestyle that worked for millennia

Low self-esteem

Teenage pregnancy

Loss of the Inuit language among the younger generations

Extreme social isolation

Depression about loss of relationships

No hope for their future

And that's not all. The anniversary of a loved-one's suicide often triggers another tragic death of someone who still grieves that earlier loss. Few mental health services are in the Arctic. The services that do exist are not adequate to meet the needs. Plus, all the problems of the big city are there, too – alcohol and drug abuse, and violence. Jails are full, as are the court dockets. The traditional Inuit lifestyle used to keep everyone very busy just getting on with the business of daily living, but with the proliferation of pop, drugs and iPods that way of life is ruined.

*********************************************

If not now - when? If not us - who?

All content © Canadian Arctic Service Corps. All rights reserved. Please feel free to distribute our blog far and wide – when more people know, more help can happen.