2 Confederation Bridge suicides lead to renewed calls for barriers on P.E.I. bridges

Warning: This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can find resources for help at the bottom of this story.

Two men died last month after jumping off the Confederation Bridge, which connects Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick.

Officials say suicides on the 13-kilometre bridge are rare. But RCMP Cpl. Gavin Moore confirmed two suicides happened less than two weeks apart: on Sept. 16 at 8:15 a.m. and on Sept. 28 at 8:55 a.m.

"No criminality is suspected," Moore said in a statement to CBC News.

The deaths have people who work in mental health asking whether enough is being done to prevent these tragedies, and why recommendations from the province's suicide prevention strategy — released nearly six years ago — have not been implemented.

"I thought, how tragic is this, and two so close together," said Amanda Brazil, former director of programs and policy with the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Brazil worked with the province to develop its suicide prevention strategy, "The Building Blocks of Hope." It was released in 2018.

Page 16 of that strategy called for erecting barriers on the Hillsborough Bridge, which links Charlottetown and Stratford, and including signage and/or helpline phones at other sites including the North River Causeway to the west of Charlottetown. 

Those recommendations didn't include the Confederation Bridge, which is a federally owned asset connecting two provinces and forming part of the TransCanada Highway network.

But barriers were never put in place on the Hillsborough Bridge, despite the recommendations. Brazil wants to know why.

"Research has shown that if there are barriers in place, it will often give a person a moment to sort of stop and think, and you won't see them often go and find another place that they can jump from," she said.

"So it's really an opportunity to give people pause. And for that reason alone, it helps."

Brazil said she's confident barriers on the Confederation Bridge would make people think twice.

"If you put up a barrier, it will prevent [deaths], it just will," she said. "By putting up barriers on bridges, it demonstrates the government's commitment to the issue. It really speaks to how governments or jurisdictions take this really seriously."