Hillsborough Bridge again in suicide-prevention spotlight, with vigil and calls for barriers
CBC
Shivering in the cold wind whipping off Charlottetown Harbour, Vincent Adams led a group of about 20 people onto the Hillsborough Bridge's pedestrian walkway Sunday to leave messages of love they hope will prevent suicides.
"Each cross comes from a family who have lost someone, so they are powerful," Adams said of the 75 small wooden crosses the group attached to the railing with plastic ties.
"So when people walk out to that bridge and they see those crosses, I hope that they understand before they do something they are loved by many, and it has far-reaching effects when you do something serious."
The afternoon event followed a week in which mental health advocates and P.E.I.'s Liberal party renewed calls for suicide-prevention barriers to be put up on the bridge that links Charlottetown and Stratford.
"Those deter people from taking their own lives and that's really what this is about," said Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly.
According to Charlottetown Police, 14 people have attempted to kill themselves on the bridge over the last five years. Two have died. That number doesn't include calls the RCMP may have responded to for the same incidents.
Barriers on the bridge have been debated on P.E.I. many times in past, including in past government suicide prevention strategies.
The P.E.I. government's own Suicide Prevention Strategy from 2018 calls for barriers on the bridge, to "reduce availability, accessibility, and attractiveness of means through erecting bridge barriers on the Hillsborough Bridge and including signage and/or helpline phones at other sites (i.e. North River Causeway)."
There are currently two cameras on the bridge, and the province has agreed to install more. But they said physical barriers, like those installed on the Covehead bridge in Stanhope, may not be possible.
"Barriers are a bit more of an obstacle, due to the structural engineering, and the [wind] load the bridge can take, so I'd have to go back to the department and get some clarity on that but I know there is concern around that," P.E.I. Transport Minister Cory Deagle said in the legislature.
Deagle also said this may be a good time to look at increasing mental health funding and supports on P.E.I.
"Would our resources be better spent on prevention, before that person gets to the bridge?"
In 2021, provincial engineers said the bridge was not designed for the higher wind loads associated with the additional rail height.
But McNeilly wants the province to take another look.
Police services across northern Ontario say most illicit drugs circulating in their communities are being transported from southern parts of the province, while prescription drugs diverted into the illegal market continue to pose a serious and ongoing threat.
The case of a child who was killed by his mother shortly after being returned from foster care has shed a rare and needed spotlight on the child welfare system, say experts in the field.
G.E. Barbour may be best known for its King Cole tea, but the Sussex company’s peanut butter is apparently what everyone wants overseas.
Seven years into an early onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Sandra Demontigny's home is full of reminders.
A blizzard gusting across southern Manitoba is leaving a long list of highway and school closures.
While a blizzard threatened outside, Saskatoon city council endured an icy blast inside city hall from a Riversdale business leader over its homeless initiatives.
This is a story about fire, faith and marshmallows.
Alberta’s population bucked the trend that almost every other Canadian province and territory experienced last quarter, Statistics Canada population estimates suggest.
A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked Michigan from enforcing a 2020 order to shut down Enbridge's Line 5 oil pipeline running beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, ruling that pipeline safety is a federal responsibility.
When retired RCMP constable Jason Hydamacka heard the news that the insurance money for his amputated leg was coming, he sat in his truck and cried.
As Neskantaga First Nation’s youngest band councillor, Lashaunda Waswa says she wants to inspire the next generation to protect the community’s land, water and wildlife.
Toronto has seen a drop in crime rates across the city, but its police chief says youth crime rates continue to be a cause for concern.
Cambridge council has voted to request a pedestrian safety review of Cedar Street from the region after two back-to-back collisions last week, one of which killed a three-year-old girl.