Record-setting child, youth suicides demand urgent response, advocate reports

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This article was published 01/12/2023 (685 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A record number of children and youth died by suicide in Manitoba last year.

The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth’s annual report shows 37 young lives were lost in 2022-23.

That’s the highest number of suicide deaths of people under the age of 21 ever reported to the advocate, the report said. The number represents a 42 per cent increase from the 26 lives lost the previous year.

“It is imperative, now more than ever, that our province establishes a comprehensive youth mental-health strategy,” said the report from the independent, non-partisan agency of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

Advocate Sherry Gott said Friday that she’s been waiting a year for the government to develop a mental-health strategy to prevent losing more young people to suicide.

“Suicide remains leading manner of death for children ages 10-17 in our province. Part of that speaks to the lack of services and support in mental health for that age group,” Gott said.

“When there are kids in crisis sitting at emergency for 18 to 24 hours (waiting to be seen), that’s not acceptable.”

Gott said she couldn’t divulge any data on this year’s numbers.

“I can tell you it is concerning…. There needs to be some kind of immediate response to this crisis.”

Suicides account for 14 per cent of the 265 children and youth deaths in Manitoba last year. The chief medical officer ruled 46 per cent as “natural,” 27 per cent were undetermined (including instances of sudden infant death syndrome), 11 per cent were the result of accidents and two per cent were homicides.

Gott said she has a meeting scheduled in January with Bernadette Smith, the minister responsible for mental health, and spoke briefly to her recently about the situation.

Tyndall Park Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux asked Premier Wab Kinew during question period Friday about the “troubling findings” in the report, and to share his government’s youth mental-health strategy to address suicide.

“This is an issue that has touched the lives of many Manitobans and it is a tragedy any time we see a family experience this,” Kinew said. “Many of us in this chamber can speak from personal experience, unfortunately.”

The premier said his government made a commitment to Manitobans to invest in prevention when it comes to young people “to ensure that we improve prospects and health outcomes for people under the age of 18.”

That includes a provincewide suicide-prevention strategy, with an emphasis on young people and members of the LGBTTQ+ community, he said.

In the last fiscal year, the province’s mental health and addictions recovery branch underspent its budget by more than $4 million, Lamoureux said. The annual report from the Mental Health and Community Wellness Department attributed the underspending to staffing shortages.

That doesn’t surprise Gott, who pointed to a lack of psychologists and therapists in the province.

“I certainly get discouraged when there is a lack of support and services for children and youth and young adults in Manitoba,” said the advocate, who worked in the child-welfare system for years.

“There is nowhere to send the children, at this point.”

In March, 11 northern First Nations declared states of emergency to draw attention to the dire situation in their communities.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc., a advocacy organization representing 26 Manitoba First Nations, responded to the report’s release Friday.

“Indigenous children, youth, and young adults, particularly those living in First Nations communities, continue to be over-represented within these alarming numbers, a statement issued by MKO said.

“Indeed, since The Advocate for Children and Youth Act came into force in 2018, Indigenous children, youth, and young adults have consistently represented the majority of deaths by suicide in Manitoba, at an average of 70 per cent.”

Gott stressed the urgent need for a co-ordinated approach to “this crisis.”

“I’m calling for government and agencies and mental-health organizations and educational institutions to work with us to develop an immediate action plan,” she said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca