Editor’s note: If you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health, there are a number of ways to get help, including by calling or texting the Suicide Crisis Helpline at 988. A list of local crisis centres is also available here. New research released on World Suicide Prevention Day suggests pediatric suicide rates are declining in Canada while highlighting the disproportionate impact of suicide on Indigenous youth. According to data compiled by Vancouver psychiatrist Dr. Tyler Black using Statistics Canada records, the suicide rate among Canadians aged 19 and younger fell to 2.09 deaths per 100,000 in 2024—roughly 40 per cent below its peak in 2018. “When we get raw data like this, it’s really tempting to look at it and draw a line and say, ‘So what changed in 2018?’” Black said in an interview with CTV News Thursday. “The answer is, ‘We don’t know,’ and it’s important for us to research why.” But researchers are limited by the data that governments release. While national suicide data is typically released one to two years after the fact, the latest Indigenous-identified suicide data available from Statistics Canada is nearly a decade old. “Our lag is just unacceptable,” he said, pointing to the modern technology at our disposal, and the fact that daily COVID-19 deaths were reported throughout the pandemic. “We can probably count the number of kids who are reported as dying by suicide.” Indigenous youth overrepresented The latest available data, covering 2011 to 2016, found Inuit and First Nations youth aged 15 to 24 died by suicide at significantly higher rates than their non-Indigenous peers. Inuit youth experienced suicide rates roughly 24 times higher, while rates among First Nations youth were nearly five times higher for males and 12 times higher for females. Black’s report notes rates were even higher among Inuit youth living in Inuit Nunangat, the four Inuit regions of the Canadian Arctic. “That has nothing to do with their identity. It has to do with the systemic effects of colonization and the ongoing systemic barriers for Indigenous people,” said Black. “It is really what we do to Indigenous people.” Shrinking gap between boys and girls Another population Black is concerned about is female youth. Unlike adult suicide data, where men account for 75 per cent of deaths, the pediatric data shows a much narrower gap between boys and girls. In 2024, the suicide rate among boys was 2.34 per 100,000, compared with 1.82 per 100,000 among girls. Black said researchers should take that seriously, particularly as female suicide rates in some parts of the world have risen in recent years. “It would be ideal if the boys move down to match the girls, not the girls move up to match the boys,” he said. He pointed to a range of pressures facing girls—including sexism, social media and anxiety about global events—arguing girls’ stronger social connectedness may make them more sensitive to those influences. Canada vs. United States rates Through his research, Black has captured the youth suicide rates of 116 countries and found some stark differences between data in Canada and the U.S. Only 10 per cent of youth suicide deaths were firearm related in Canada, compared to 46 per cent in the U.S. “The U.S. has about 70 per cent more suicides per capita than Canada does in the pediatric population. It’s almost entirely attributable to firearm access,” Black said. While better firearm control could reduce those numbers, little can be done to address the method of hanging, which accounts for nearly 69 per cent of Canadian youth deaths. However, Black stresses that there are lots of things parents can do if they suspect their kid is struggling, including checking in with them, taking stress and pressure off their plate, and helping them navigate relationships. “In a coroner’s review that I participated in in British Columbia, we identified that 63 per cent of kids who died by suicide had relationship problems,” Black said. Concerns as students head back to school Black said the findings should also prompt schools to examine their role in student mental health, as about 50 per cent of youth suicide deaths occur during the school year. Academic expectations, peer dynamics, early wake-up times and other pressures associated with school life can compound existing mental health challenges, according to Black. “I’d really like to see schools take their role very seriously in suicide reduction,” he said. “It’d be really nice if we didn’t see a big spike of suicides every September, but we will in Canada and we will in the United States every year.” Looking to the future Despite the downward trend of pediatric suicides in Canada, Black said it’s important not to lose sight of the role individuals can play in supporting young people. “There’s nothing we can do about the large numbers. But individually, we can always make a difference for the kids in our life,” he said. Black stresses that helping youth means paying attention to sources of distress, removing barriers where possible and making sure young people have time to enjoy being young. “Children are machines for fun. They’re not machines for work,” he said. “We need kids to learn how to relax, take care of themselves, enjoy themselves, find what they like, find out who they are. Those are the true goals of childhood.”
