This report deals with the five year follow-up after a suicide epidemic on a Manitoulin Island Indian Reserve in 1974 and 1975. In the succeeding years, the suicide rate has dropped to a tenth of the level of the epidemic and has reached the levels for the rest of Manitoulin Island including the White and Native population. There has been a corresponding drop in the rate of violent death and of the number of suicide attempts. It is suggested that the multi-dimensional prevention and intervention measures reported here have contributed to a significant improvement in present conditions.
References
1.
WardJ.A.The Wikwemikong suicide epidemic, a psychiatric analysis, Presented to the Coroner's Jury at Wikwemikong, Ontario, December 11 and 12, 1975.
2.
WardJ.A., FoxJ.A suicide epidemic on an Indian reserve.Can Psychiatr Assoc J1977; 22: 423–6.
3.
WardJ.A., FoxJ., EvansA.L.Suicide and the Canadian Indians, and also Suicide Epidemic Among Canadian Indians. Proceedings of the IX International Congress On Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention, Helsinki, Finland, 1977, 380–406.
4.
FoxJ., WardJ.A.Indian suicide in Northern Ontario, Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, September 1977.
5.
WardJ.A.The response of a native community to a suicide epidemic — follow-up report, Proceedings of the X International Congress for Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention, Ottawa, Canada, 406 and also Volume II, 147–50.
6.
VainioE., LiepoldH.Manitoulin and Sudbury district mortality study: 1971–1976, Sudbury, Ontario, Manitoulin-Sudbury District Health Council, March 1979.
7.
VainioE.,Mortality from accidents, poisonings and violence: a comparative study of the Manitoulin and Sudbury districts and Ontario (1971–1977),Sudbury, Ontario, Manitoulin-Sudbury District Health Council, no date.
8.
Manitoulin Community Committee, Manitoulin Social Needs Study, June 1979, (unpublished document).
9.
McLeodJ., ClarkS.J.It's in the Blood?,Canadian Welfare1974; 50 (5): 17–20.