Petition to get suicide crisis declared in Nunavik surpasses 51,000 signatures

Long-time Inuit advocate Mary Simon's petition to get suicides in Nunavik recognized as a crisis by Canada and Quebec has gathered 51,500 signatures, nearly reaching its goal of 55,000.

Simon was moved to start the campaign at the end of last year after attending the funeral of her 22-year-old niece Natalie May, who was among the suicides in Kuujjuaq.

She started an online petition with her brother Bob May andposted iton Facebook and Twitter.

In 2018, more than 15 people died by suicide in the region of Nunavikin Northern Quebec, which has a population of around 13,000 11 of those were in the village of Puvirnituq.

It asks that the premier of Quebec and the prime minister of Canadaofficially recognize the crisis and appoint a special representative to implement and monitora mental health treatment program in Nunavik.

"We thought we needed to get more support fromnot just Nunavik, but from the public, so that we could illustratethere was substantive support from outside of Nunavik to support the efforts to eliminate suicide," Simon said.

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And with nearly four times the population of the region having signed the petition, Simon says she's ready to start the next phase of the campaign.

In Februaryshe hopes to set up meetings with relevant cabinet ministers to push for the resources Nunavik needs.

"The federal cabinet has decided to shuffle, so I think there's going to be a lot of time [taken to] educate certain ministers that have been appointed to our areas," Simon said.

Simon says thegovernment is aware of the issue, but the resources in Nunavik are "insufficient."

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"We don't have diagnostic services. We don't have a place where people can go when theyneed regular counselling," she said.

While there is some support offered at the hospital in Kuujjuaq, Simon says she wants a focus on the smaller villages as well.

Simon said her niece had stayed with her in Ottawa for a while and had access to regular counselling, but the resources weren't there for May once she returned home to Kuujjuaq.

"We're not attacking anybody," Simon said. "We're just trying to inform and demonstrate to the federal government and the provincial government that this is an issue that they need to take a closer look at."