The government has allocated $1 million this year toward its Pillars For Life plan — $200,000 less than the previous two years.
Saskatchewan has decreased funding for suicide prevention one year after it passed a law to address the challenge and despite a minister saying mental health is a government priority.plan. Data provided by the Ministry of Health shows that’s a decrease of $200,000 compared with the previous two years.
Minister of Mental Health Everett Hindley said less funding has been provided this year because the program no longer has startup costs. The Strategy for Suicide Prevention Act, which was passed in April 2021, requires the Ministry of Health to spend six months consulting with organizations, other provinces and the federal government to help develop a suicide prevention plan. The architect of the legislation said the government is failing to enforce it and failing to consult. “Nothing has come forward for the families I talked to,” said Doyle Vermette, the Opposition NDP’s mental-health critic who holds a seat in northern Saskatchewan. Hindley said the government has consulted with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, which represents 74 First Nations in the province.Hindley pointed to $8 million in this year’s budget for mental health. “We want to make sure the dollar figures are being spent wisely,” he said. “And people that live in these communities and are looking for assistance, they’re seeing these benefits come through.”Article content The Ministry of Health said the bulk of the Pillars for Life funding has gone to suicide prevention campaigns and to Roots of Hope, a community-driven project to try to reduce suicides in Saskatchewan’s north. Saskatchewan’s coroner reported 204 suicides in 2021, an increase of five from the year before when the government first introduced Pillars For Life. Data shows Indigenous people are disproportionately affected. They made up 41 per cent of all suicides in the province last year, despite representing just over 16 per cent of the population in a 2016 census.Some advocates say the entire approach needs to be reformed. “Government makes small changes, which help, but that’s not what we need. We need huge changes, especially for our youth,” said Chris Ball, whose son Kye died by suicide in 2017 at the age of 16.said the province has failed for decades to act on recommendations aimed at improving mental health. Ball, who is Métis and continues to advocate for families, said it’s “a nightmare trying to get help.”“We denied having our son in the a couple of times because they were full,” Ball said. “The system is broken.”
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