Iqaluit suicide prevention summit compiles communities' best practices

The recurring theme at the United For Life stakeholder summit for suicide prevention this week in Iqaluitwas to focus on what's working in Nunavut communities, rather than what isn't.

At the back of the conference room at the Frobisher Inn, delegates were filling a map of Nunavut, slowly and surely pinning up every wellness program available in each of the territory's 26 communities.

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Most of the sessions weren't open to the media in an effort to create a comfortable environment where people felt they couldspeak openly but from the sidelines one of the many highly-praised initiatives people were talking about is a youth hunting program out of Cape Dorset.

"You can see the anguish or tension in the body language disappear from the youth soon after enjoying one of these trips," said Zeke Eetsiak in Inuktitut.

He's one of the directors of the program, which launched in 2008.

"You see the youth become a teenager again, enjoying their vitality, and you can see the realignment of their lives."

The program is one of many filling the map, alongside a youth wellness camp in Pangnirtung, men's support groups in Hall Beach, and a program called "Reclaiming the Whole Woman" at the Pirurvik Centre in Iqaluit, and delegates were frequently adding to it.

Organized by Nunavut Tunngavik, the Embrace Life Council, the RCMP and the Government of Nunavut, this week's summit was in response to recommendations made by jurors at last fall's Nunavut suicide inquest.

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This week's summit is part of Nunavut's latest action plan for suicide prevention a one-year plan released earlier this year but the hope for this meeting is to come up with a longer, five-year plan.

Best practices

"I think it's going to play a big part on how [a five-year plan] will be formed," said Embrace Life Council president David Lawson.

"Bringing together all the best practices in the communities, that's what [this summit] is about. Bringing everyone together to see what's working in each town. One thing might work for Grise Fiord, but it might not work for Iqaluit, right?"

On Friday delegates will share their vision for where they want to be five years from now. But the summit's leaders have made theirs clear from the get go:Nunavummiutable to say they don't know anyone who's taken their own lives.

The summit wraps upFriday night with the Ikaumaniq memory walk through Iqaluit.

TheKamatsiaqtut Help Line at1-800-265-3333for anonymous support is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For help in Inuktitut call 1-888-331-4433, or visit your community health centre.