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February 4th, 2019

NDP Calls for a National Suicide Prevention Action Plan

OTTAWA – M-174, a motion introduced by NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay), calling for a National Suicide Prevention Action Plan had its first hour of debate today.

“Suicide touches every community in this country, and it’s time we had a plan in place to ensure that we lose not one more to suicide,” said Angus.

Angus also called on the government to support the motion, saying that action on suicide prevention is not a partisan issue.

“M-174 received support from a broad variety of experts and stakeholders, from the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, the Canadian Medical Association, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association,” added Angus.

M-174 calls on the government to develop and implement a National Suicide Prevention Action Plan with provisions regarding community-based services in Indigenous communities, evidence-based best practices to address suicide, collecting better data, creating training standards, better supporting first responders, and other provisions. The motion would also require the government to report annually on its progress to Parliament.