Create a national suicide prevention strategy
Petitioners ask the House of Commons to create and implement a national suicide prevention strategy mandating cross-jurisdiction data-sharing, supporting community well-being spaces, enhancing clinical supports, and funding prevention, intervention and postvention services.
Why we would sign this petition
- It would establish a coordinated national framework ensuring provinces, territories and municipalities share suicide data and align prevention efforts, improving planning and response.
- It would expand community-based supports and safe spaces that encourage open discussion, helping early identification and local prevention.
- It would enhance clinical services and provide targeted prevention, intervention and postvention supports for survivors and those affected by suicide.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- A national mandate could conflict with provincial jurisdiction over health, complicating implementation and requiring complex negotiations.
- Centralizing data-sharing raises privacy, legal and technical challenges that may delay effective use of suicide records across jurisdictions.
- Costs and resource demands to build and sustain cross-jurisdiction systems and expanded services may be high and could divert funds from local initiatives.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled Suicide is the 9th leading cause of death in Canada and accounts for just over 25% of all deaths of youth ages 15-29 in Canada; Canada is one of the only country in the G7 without a National Suicide Prevention Strategy and instead uses a 12-point action plan; Provinces, Territories, and municipalities are left to create their own Suicide Prevention Strategies leading to a non-uniform high-level plan of key actions required and a data disconnect between jurisdictions; and It is everyone's responsibility to prevent suicide within our communities to the best of our ability. We, the undersigned, Citizens of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to urgently direct the creation and implementation of a National Suicide Prevention Strategy that: 1. Works to outline and mandate cross-jurisdiction systems with provincial and municipal counterparts and health ministries where data and records of suicides/attempts are easily able to be accessed and reported; 2. Supports and increases knowledge of environments and spaces that promote healthy and positive well-being and mental health — including places such as community centers, healthcare offices, and places that empower individuals to speak openly about their well-being and mental health in their daily lives and community; 3. Enhances clinical services and support for survivors, for individuals who may have suicidal thoughts, and for individuals who have been affected by suicide; and 4. Provides outlined supports that are dedicated to community support with the prevention, intervention, postvention, and support of people who have been affected by a loss to suicide.
Government response
No government response is available yet.