QUESTION PERIOD — Health
Suicide Awareness and Prevention
April 11, 2019
Honourable senators, my question is to the government leader in the Senate. Suicide prevention is an important issue to Canadians, but there are few approaches that when applied in the general population have demonstrated decreased rates of suicide. The most fulsome of these is means restriction.
In the most recent budget, the Government of Canada has allocated $25 million for a pan-Canadian suicide prevention service that uses a 24/7 crisis support model.
Unfortunately, the available scientific evidence does not provide comfort as to the known effectiveness of this approach. However, this decision may offer a unique opportunity to determine this. Will the implementation of this service be critically and independently evaluated using rigorous research methodology to help determine if this implementation works to prevent suicide?
Again, I thank the honourable senator for his question. I can confirm, as his question indicates, that the government has taken action through the Federal Framework for Suicide Prevention and supporting the Canada Suicide Prevention Service through the budget that was just tabled. This service offers free 24/7 support to all Canadians and, since it was launched in 2017, has been called nearly 2,000 times a month.
I can also confirm to the honourable senator and, indeed, this chamber that the Canada Suicide Prevention Service will be rigorously evaluated every five years. The evaluation design will be informed by evidence and best practices used in Canada and other countries, including the United States.
The effectiveness of high-quality suicide prevention lines as a part of a continuum of crisis support measures has been well established. There is international evidence that de-escalation of crisis through community-based crisis support can prevent self‑harm and suicide attempts.
As the honourable senator will know are from his professional background, the World Health Organization has highlighted crisis lines as a key part of a national comprehensive approach to reducing suicide and it is the government’s hope that this investment will underscore that experience in the Canadian practice.
