Charlie Angus will be releasing details of a national action plan on suicide at the Mushkegowuk Tribal Council Emergency summit being held in Timmins on Thursday. Angus has put together a national action plan in response to calls from regional leadership for the federal government to get serious in facing the urgency of the suicide crisis in Canada.
Angus says it is time the federal government stepped up to the plate.
“We are losing young people on a daily and a weekly basis in the north. The leadership across Treaty 9 territory has been working full out to address this crisis. We need a strong federal commitment to address the threat in both the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities across Canada.”
Following his meeting with Mushkegowuk and other key stakeholders, Angus will present the national suicide action plan to Parliament for debate. The plan will create a whole of government approach to reducing suicide by enacting a national public health surveillance program for suicide prevention; a commitment to priorities articulated by Indigenous representative organizations; best practice guidelines for prevention and care; national training standards and media knowledge tools, among other provisions.
Canada is one of a handful of developed countries without a national action plan to reduce suicide. In Quebec, a comprehensive suicide prevention strategy in Quebec cut the province’s suicide rate by a third and the youth suicide rate by over 50%.
Angus says he will be engaged in a national conversation to bring people together on this issue.
“I will be travelling the country to engage people in this conversation. Working together we can make a difference.”