Reversing Falls Bridge suicide barrier on indefinite hold, despite budget
$500K set aside for barrier in Saint John, but transportation minister worries it will move risk elsewhere
A New Brunswick cabinet minister says the proposal to build a suicide barrier at the Reversing Falls Bridge has been put on hold indefinitely until he decides whether it's the best course of action to reduce the overall suicide rate in the province.
Bill Fraser, the minister of transportation and infrastructure, said he was the one who pressed the pause button on the project in Saint John when he arrived at the department in June 2016.
"There's a lot of consultation that we have to do," he said. "And this is not something that I'm going to make a quick decision on because it's such a serious decision to make."
Fraser confirmed last week that the province budgeted about $500,000 to build the suicide barrier.
Visit left him with question
"There was money that was available, previously," he said. "It was approximately $500,000. It was money set aside to look at doing something at the Reversing Falls Bridge.
"When I arrived at the department in June (2016), I said that we need to have a broader discussion, a more global discussion, on how we can move forward in a positive way to help the most people that we can."
On a visit to the Reversing Falls site, Fraser said he took note of other ledges and platforms, such as on the railway bridge.
That made him wonder if a barrier in one location would just move the risk elsewhere, he said.
He also heard from suicide prevention committees in other communities who have their own priorities.
They've raised concerns about the Westmorland Street Bridge in Fredericton and the Centennial Bridge in his own riding in Miramichi, he said.
"In fact, we've had some preliminary discussions with the New Brunswick Psychiatric Association to look at how we can deal with this, not just at the Reversing Falls structure but at other structures in the province," he said.
Concerns over esthetics
The province is responsible for 3,200 bridges and almost 1,000 buildings.
Saint John's suicide prevention committee has advocated a barrier at the Reversing Falls Bridge for the past few years.
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City council supports the idea but in February, the city sent a letter to the province asking the department to take care of the design.
"We think the esthetics of fencing that bridge is very important ... because it's a fairly significant tourist area," Mayor Don Darling said in an interview last month.
Research shows barriers work
Two weeks ago, a Toronto researcher told CBC News that suicide barriers do make a difference and lead to a decrease in the overall suicide rate.
Dr. Mark Synor, a psychiatrist and researcher at the Sunnybrook Research Institute, studied the suicide rate in Toronto before and after a barrier was built at the Bloor Street Viaduct in 2003.
- Toronto psychiatrist recommends suicide barrier at Reversing Falls bridge
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In an earlier paper published in 2010, Synor's team found the suicide rate at the bridge dropped from nine deaths per year to zero, but they also found the overall rate of suicide by jumping remained unchanged.
This month, the British Medical Journal published his newer results using data up to 2014.
It concluded that over the long term, suicide-by-jumping declined in Toronto after a barrier was installed, with no associated increase in suicide by other means.
"Our new thinking is that probably because of the wide publicity that came around the time of the barriers' construction that there was actually an uptick in deaths that might have been influenced … by that media coverage," said Synor.
Fraser said his government has made significant investments to support mental health, including $500,000 for a dedicated research chair on youth mental health at the University of Moncton.
A recent health accord signed with Ottawa will also help the province fund mental health programs and shorten wait times for mental health services, he said.