A coroner’s review of five teen suicides over the past 18 months in Vancouver Island’s Comox Valley has found no common factors among them.
None of the youths—three males and two females aged between 14 and 17—had any drug or mental health issues and none had been bullied, said Matt Brown, regional coroner for Vancouver Island.
Although four of the teens attended the same high school, they did not socialize together.
“Despite that, there is no indication any of them were anything but the most casual of acquaintances,” said Brown. “None were close friends. None moved in the same social groups.”
In addition, none of the youths had given any indication that they were planning to commit suicide, either to family members, other adults in their lives, or their friends of the same age, Brown said.
Brown reviewed the files of the five deaths and consulted with the investigating coroners in a search for some connection that might potentially have caused the teens to take their own lives.
He said the Coroners Service is working with the school district, youth mental health providers, and the RCMP in an effort to determine a co-ordinated response to the deaths.
Rory Butler of Your Life Counts, a volunteer organization that works to prevent teen suicide, says a national suicide prevention strategy is desperately needed in Canada, where suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth next to road accidents.
To that end, two private members’ bills have been introduced, and on Oct. 4 the House of Commons overwhelmingly passed a non-partisan motion in support of a national suicide prevention strategy.
“It’s just tremendous to see politicians all across the house in one accord on this issue. So we now need the government to act,” says Butler, adding that Canada is one of the few countries in the G8 without a national strategy to combat suicide.
“I think for the families in the Comox Valley who are so concerned—write a letter to your MP and write one every day. Let’s bombard Parliament with the cry of the people across the country that enough is enough.”
He says a strategy would help organizations in the field of suicide prevention to work better together to share resources and gain a greater understanding of what steps need to be taken in various communities.
“There are people who have been working in the field of suicide prevention for 25, 30, 40 years across the country. Great work is being done, but we need to connect the dots, we need to coordinate our efforts, we need to build our capacity. So we need to work together and share information and best practices.”
