Padma Suramala, Nunavut's coroner, calls inquest into suicides

Nunavuts chief coroneris calling a special inquestinto the high rates of suicide in the territory.

In an interview with CBC on Thursday, PadmaSuramala said shell hold a discretionary inquest into three suicides, selected at random, under the authority of Sec.21 of the Coroners Act.

• Suicide numbers in Nunavut in 2013 a record high

Last year, 45 people in Nunavut took their own lives, the highest level of suicides ever recorded in the territory. Nunavut has had a suicide crisis since becoming a territory in1999.

In 2013, 10people took their lives in the capital of Iqaluit, which has a population of less than 7,000.

There have now been 434 suicides in the territory since 1999: mostly male, mostly Inuit, mostly young.

Fathers, mothers losing children

Joanasie Akumalik has lived the dreaded experience.

In October last year, the Iqaluit city councillor and father lost one of his twinsons, Aapi, to suicide. He was 24.

Akumalik says he saw signsthat Aapi was distant.

At times we were worried because he was staying in his room too long starting to drink a bit punching walls, Akumalik says. He didn't like us to be loud in the mornings. Those kinds of indications let us know that something was happening with him."

Akumalik has a message for other troubled young people: "Talk to your parents. We cannot hear what you're thinking."

Theresa Parker of Baker Lake lost her son, Brandon, on Dec. 5. He was 19.

I need to heal inside of me, she says. Im still a bit weak. (Click the link on the top left to hear Parker speak with the CBC's Jordan Konek.)

Nonetheless, this Saturday, Parker plans to lead a community walk to Prince River, seven or eight hoursfrom the community.

Its not only for my son. Its for other people too that got left behind from suicide, she says.

Environment Canada is calling for temperatures between 37 C and 42 C on Saturday.

I know its cold, but nothings gonna stop me, Parker says.

Leaders call for action

At a press conference in Iqaluit on Wednesdayon an unrelated topic, TransportationMinister and Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaqwas clearly disturbed by the suicide numbers.

It is a tragic situation in the North, Aglukkaq said.

She says the federal government has put measures in place to help, including "investments we have put forward to support Embrace Life council" and the "Territorial Health Sustainability Initiative of $30 million was put to developing mental-health programs."

Others want more to be done.

We have had for decades now a growing and increasingnumber of suicides, says Marie Wilson, a commissioner with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. At what point ... do we stand up as a country, and say this is an epidemic, and this is totally unacceptable, and we have to put extraordinary resources towards it?

Wilson says more supports are needed in the North, including a designated mental-health centre, an ideaproposed in the commissions interim report in 2012.

Jack Hicks is aresearcher who isinvestigating Inuitsuicides for hisPhD.

He says hes sickenedby the number of deaths in 2013.

When you have that kind of loss, year after year, it has a cumulative effect.- Jack Hicks, suicide researcher

Nunavut, and a few other parts of the Inuit world, are really in a different zone when it comes to the levels of suicide, especially youth suicide, Hicks says.

When you have that kind of loss, year after year, it has a cumulative effect. So many families have lost so many loved ones, that every time theres another suicide, it has a re-traumatizing effect.

Hicks links suicide to historical trauma, which he sayis a problem that wont go away on its own.

This is not necessarily going to stop if people dont do anything, he says. Its just brutal.

Hicks says the real question is what hashappened to the suicide prevention strategy, which he worked on.

Suicide prevention plan questioned

The Nunavut suicide prevention strategy was published in 2010, with a detailed action plan released in September 2011. It was the collective work of the Nunavut government, the Nunavut land claims organization, RMCP and Nunavuts suicide prevention group, the Embrace Life Council.

The plan called for everything from providing more counselling to improving early childhood development opportunities, educatingthe public on suicide risk factors, and providing better supports to communities that experience clusters of suicides. The deadline for most initiatives is March.

Why has the territorial government been so weak in terms of implementing the action plan from the Nunavut suicide prevention strategy? Hicks asks. If they have taken aggressive measures, this has not been communicated to the public.

Lynn Ryan Mackenzie is the Nunavut governments executive director of mental health and addiction.

We're all trying to coordinate and move this agenda forward however we can, she says. We know that suicide has overlays in terms of homelessness and mental health, poverty.

Ryan Mackenzie says the suicide prevention strategys action plan will be evaluated this March.

Young people need somewhere to turn

Meanwhile, many young people say the North lacksbadly needed resources.

Jessie Fraser grew up in Sanikiluaq, a community of 800 on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay.

There were a lot of times when I didnt even think that it was even an option to talk to someone who was trained, who could tell me that its OK, that whatever I was feeling or thinking was understandable or normal. That there shouldnt be any shame in that.

Fraser now lives in Newfoundland andLabrador, where shes taking a break halfway through her psychology degree, for her mental health. Fraser says shes fortunate to be able to seek out resources for herself, but,There should be a whole lot more resources because its so needed.Theres so many people thinking about suicide and attempting suicide and often doing it.

Some communities dont even have a social worker, or a designated mental-health worker, she says.

Mary Simon, past president of the national Inuit organizationInuit Tapiriit Kanatamiand a former circumpolar ambassador, has spoken publicly about her own battle with depression.

She too was able to get professional help.

You can overcome mental-health issues, but you need support and help to do it, and in the North, we lack that support.

I didnt see suicide as an option, which I am thankful for, but I sought the advice of doctors, which I am thankful for.Its almost impossible to get out of it by yourself, and it depends on what youve been through in your life.