EDMONTON- It’s a sad reality, but according to Edmonton’s Chief Medical Examiner, there were 14 deaths in the area around the High Level bridge as a result of suicide in the past year. As a result, the City and the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) are looking at ways to make the bridge as safe and secure as possible.
“Someone who lost someone was quite concerned about it and they asked me to look into it. And so, out of respect for them and the challenge the family faced, we did the inquiry,” Mayor Stephen Mandel explained.
“It is incredibly difficult for people who have to deal with the realities of someone who makes a decision to take their own life.”
Suicide on the High Level was the subject of a local documentary created in 2010, in which the film’s writer and director, Trevor Anderson, drops his camera from the bridge in memory of those who have jumped.
The film starts with a rather chilling and blunt statement: “This is the High Level bridge. It’s where people who live in Edmonton go when we’re finally ready to kill ourselves.”
EPS sees a spike in the number of suicide-related incidents it responds to on the bridge around Christmas and in the spring. During those times, EPS says it responds to one to two calls every week.
Ideas being looked at to make the bridge safer are higher wires or fences along the bridge, a phone that would connect directly to 911, and adding more light to the bridge, “to see what we can do to possibly mitigate or prevent or maybe respond quicker to attempted suicides,” said Patrycia Thenu, a spokesperson with EPS.
“I think it’s important to recognize the challenges that our society faces when it comes to suicide and making sure those places which offer an option to some people are minimized,” Mandel added.
The executive director of The Support Network, a centre that helps individuals in the Edmonton region deal with crisis situations, says she’s happy bridge safety is being looked at.
“It is a major issue.. so I’m pleased that they’re looking at it,” said Nancy McCalder. “It is part of our history and it does have a dark side.”
However, she says it’s only one piece of a much larger issue.
McCalder says there’s no research to suggest making the bridge safer would reduce the number of suicides. However, “what we do know is that having support systems out there for people that are feeling that badly does work,” she explained.
She believes more funding needs to be provided for services like The Support Network.
“On our distress line, we answer over 12,000 calls a year and 30 per cent of those calls are at risk for suicide,” McCalder said. “That’s just in Edmonton.”
“It’s not enough. Absolutely it’s not enough. There’s lots of other ways people choose to die by suicide that modifying the bridge is just a drop in the bucket.”
A report and its recommendations will be debated next week at a community services committee meeting.
With files from Shannon Greer, Global News.
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