'The further you get away from Queen's Park the more severe the problem becomes, but the less attention it gets,' says Mayor Matthew Shoemaker of the health-care imbalance between northern and southern Ontario
WARNING: This article contains details that may disturb some readers. If you or someone you know needs to speak with someone, please call Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868 or 9-8-8 for the Suicide Crisis Helpline.
To maintain anonymity of those affected, the data on youth suicide is being presented between 2010 and 2022. During that time period, the data shows northern Ontario youth aged 13 to 19 died by suicide at a rate four times higher than the provincial average, as shown in the following graph.SooToday asked Jasmine Savoie, executive director of Victim Services of Algoma, about the graph above, which shows a dramatic spike in the death rate by suicide in northern Ontario.
"We would have to go searching for it," she said. "It's not readily available, but I think it should be because I think this is really how we start to identify a lot of the gaps within our city or the northern communities that have limited resources." That sense of not mattering can be amplified, said Flett, when a person who is seeking assistance for thoughts of self harm are unable to find help in a timely manner.
"If you come from some marginalized background or some marginalized group, then the pain of not mattering might be felt much more acutely because it's so highly correlated with loneliness and very highly correlated with not just a lack of help but a lack of hope," Flett said.
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