Event22‑year‑old Inuit youth delegate Gwen Natsiq told the Inuit Circumpolar Council’s July 24 assembly in Iqaluit that she has lost roughly eight people to suicide over five years, underscoring Nunavut’s alarming rate of 25–37 deaths a year for its 40,000 residents—more than half under 29—and calling for peer‑to‑peer mental‑health training and improved access to services.
A 22‑year‑old Inuit youth delegate from Nunavut reported that she has lost roughly eight people to suicide over five years during a presentation at the Inuit Circumpolar Council, underscoring the territory’s high suicide rate and calling for peer‑to‑peer mental‑health support in remote communities.
The IPC assembly highlighted that Nunavut’s youth suicide rate—averaging 25‑37 deaths a year in a population of 40,000—is the nation’s highest, with over half involving individuals under 29, prompting delegate Gwen Natsiq to push for peer‑to‑peer support training and better mental‑health access.
