Suicide+Rates

**Rates of Suicides and Attempted Suicides among Aboriginal Canadians**

Aboriginal communities appear to have an increasing concern with rates of suicide and attempts among all age groups and genders. This also appears to be a somewhat similar trend across the country. Some Aboriginal communities have relatively higher rates of suicide compared to other Aboriginal communities and the rest of the country. For example Aboriginal community of Pikangikum, located in Northwestern Ontario has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world at 36 times (470 suicides per 100,00 per year) greater than Canada's average rate (12 suicides per 100,000 per year). Davis Inlet an Aboriginal community in Northern Newfoundland had rates 15 times (178 suicides per 100,000 per year) higher than the country's average. A study done in Manitoba between the years 1988-1994 showed Aboriginals in the province to suicide at a rate of (38 suicides per 100,000 per year) compared to non-Aboriginals at (13.8 per 100,000 per year) approximately 2.8 times higher in the 6 year period ( Melanie S. MacNeil, 2008).

  **Suicide Rates by Age and Gender**  **First Nations & All Canadians: 1990 - 1994** .  (SIEC, 2003)

Of growing concern are Aboriginal youth aged 10 -19 years attempting suicide. In British Columbia Aboriginal boys in this age group have rates 8 times higher and girls have rates that are 20 times higher than Non- Aboriginals. Over all this age group is 5 times more likely to attempt suicide compared to Non-Aboriginals in the same age category across the country. Geographic location for Aboriginal populations with high attempted suicide rates appear rather similar across the country. A chart showing attempted rates of suicide for Innu populations in Newfoundland/Labrador for youths ages 10-19 indicates a rate of 9.7 times higher than Non-Aboriginals in the province. The statistics clearly show dramatically higher attempted rates of suicide for youths living in Aboriginal communities compared to Non-Aboriginal communities. Males had 11 times higher rates and females had 3 times higher rates compared to their respective genders  ( Melanie S. MacNeil, 2008). ** Attempted Suicide among Population 10-19 Years by Geographic Region, **** Newfoundland and Labrador, 1998-2000 **  at risk (b) ||> Incidence rate Per 100,000 (C) || (Alaghehbandan, Gates, & MacDonald, 2005) ** Attempted Suicide among Population 10-19 Years by Geographic Region ** ** and Gender, Newfoundland and Labrador, 1998-2000 **  (a) |||| Population at Risk (b) |||| Incidence rate per 100,000 (c) || Communities || 4 || 13 || 1,522 || 1,520 || 87.6 || 285.1 || Communities || 15 || 15 || 511 || 559 || 978.5 || 894.5 || (a) Data obtained from Clinical Database Management System (b) Data obtained from Statistics Canada 2001 Census (c) Incidence rate = Total No. of new cases from 1998-2000 ÷ No. of years in study period ÷Population at risk*100,000 (Alaghehbandan, Gates, & MacDonald, 2005)  Davis Inlet is a Aboriginal community well known for the youth suffering from emotional trauma and substance abuse. The youth of the community are highly addicted to huffing gasoline. It is not much of a surprise that the number 1 method of attempting suicide in this community is from poisoning. ** Method Used for Attempted Suicide among Population 10-19 Years **** by Gender, Newfoundland and Labrador, 1998-2000 **   <span style="background-color: #ffc800; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center; vertical-align: sub;">(a) Data obtained from Clinical Database Management System <span style="background-color: #ffc800; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center; vertical-align: sub;">(Alaghehbandan, Gates, & MacDonald, 2005) <span style="background-color: #ffc800; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center; vertical-align: sub;">
 * >  ||> Number of Cases (a) ||> Population
 * > Total Province ||> 234 ||> 74,709 ||> 104.4 ||
 * > Island portion of Province ||> 187 ||> 70,597 ||> 88.3 ||
 * > Labrador Non-Aboriginal Communities ||> 17 ||> 3,042 ||> 186.3 ||
 * > Labrador Inuit ||> 6 ||> 629 ||> 318 ||
 * > Labrador Innu ||> 24 ||> 441 ||> 1814.1 ||
 * |||| Number of Cases
 * Gender || Male || Female || Male || Female || Male || Female ||
 * Island portion of Province || 58 || 129 || 36,124 || 34,473 || 53.5 || 124.7 ||
 * Labrador Non-Aboriginal
 * Labrador Aboriginal
 * |||| Number of Cases (a) |||| Percentage ||
 * Method || Male || Female || Male || Female ||
 * Poisoning || 62 || 144 || 80.5 || 91.7 ||
 * Hanging || 4 || 3 || 5.2 || 1.9 ||
 * Firearms || 4 || 0 || 5.2 || 0 ||
 * Cutting || 4 || 8 || 5.2 || 5.1 ||
 * Others || 3 || 2 || 3.9 || 1.3 ||
 * Totals || 77 || 157 || 100 || 100 ||