VANCOUVER -- On average, about once a year someone leaps to their death from Vancouver’s Burrard Bridge. Compared to other area bridges, it isn’t the favoured spot to publicly end one’s life; the adjacent Granville Bridge and the Lions Gate Bridge are more often chosen for suicides.

But now city officials say they want to add suicide-prevention fencing to the city’s heritage Art Deco bridge when they undertake a $35-million renovation.

The plan has drawn the ire of heritage buffs and the film industry, who complain the proposal was not included in open houses where the public was asked for comment. They argue the fencing will ruin the look of the bridge and that it will impact movie shoots and car commercials that use it as a backdrop.

It is a delicate matter to raise concerns about preserving the heritage and esthetic looks of a landmark city bridge when talking about how to prevent suicides from it, admits Anthony Norfolk, a member of Vancouver’s heritage commission.

“A lot of people are running for cover because they are afraid if they don’t support it they’ll be accused of not caring for human life,” said Norfolk, who voted against recommending the bridge rehabilitation project after seeing the latest drawings, including the fencing.

The city had no plans to put suicide fencing on the bridge until Dr. John Carsley, a medical health officer for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, pointed out that a 2008 coroners’ inquest had recommended such structures on all major bridges. He’s been alarmed at the high number of bridge jumping deaths. According to the B.C. Coroners Service, since 2006 at least 102 people have died jumping off eight of the region’s most accessible bridges. That doesn’t account for those who survived, or suicides that were not witnessed.

At the top of the list is the Lions Gate Bridge, with 33 deaths; at the bottom is the relatively low Cambie Bridge, with two. Seven people used Burrard Bridge.

Carsley believes many of those deaths could be prevented by “removing the means,” or in other words, putting up a barrier. Such fencing has been shown to be very effective in stopping what he called “impulsive” suicides, he said. Stopping determined suicides such as by hanging, or drug or alcohol overdoses, B.C.’s top two methods, is much more difficult.

“What the data shows is that people who jump from bridges are quite different from other kinds of suicide attempts,” he said. “In general, if one is thwarted from jumping from a bridge, you don’t seek other means of killing yourself.”

Suicide fencing has already been added to the Second Narrows Bridge, and the province has agreed to add it to Lions Gate when it undertakes further renovations. Granville Bridge may get it when the city undertakes renovations later.

Lon LaClaire, the city’s acting director of transportation, said the fencing on the Burrard Bridge would cost about $3.5 million. The city is aware of the heritage concerns and would design something light and airy, he said. City art renderings show a series of straight square bars that have an Art Deco look to them.

Javier Campos, the president of the Heritage Vancouver Society, said he appreciates the need to stop people from using the bridge to kill themselves. But he says the fencing wasn’t part of any city information sessions and the public hasn’t had a chance to weigh in.

“This deserves more consultation. They’ve done a bit of a bait and switch,” he said. “This is a significant heritage asset. We’re not saying we don’t want suicide prevention fencing, but there has been no discussion about this.”

Norfolk said it wasn’t until the July 6 heritage commission meeting that new renderings were provided showing the fencing added.

“This whole “means prevention,” as they euphemistically call it, has been added at the very last minute,” Norfolk said. “The whole thing is being rushed through at an obscene pace. It very much changes the look of the bridge, and it has not been a part of the public consultation. If you do that to that bridge, you’re going to have to do it to the Granville and Cambie bridges. The policy implications are enormous.”

Carsley understands wanting to protect the heritage looks of the bridge. But he says his sympathies lie with trying to prevent the death and trauma of people who, for a variety of reasons, use the Lower Mainland’s bridges as instruments to end their lives.

“I can certainly understand the importance of the heritage and the esthetics. Personally, I don’t feel it would change the bridge that much,” he said. “For me, I would like to have it both ways. But I want to keep people from injuring and killing themselves. I certainly know what I consider more important.”

jefflee@vancouversun.com

Twitter.com/sunciviclee

Distress line numbers

There are a number of suicide prevention services in B.C. available for people in distress.

They include:

• The B.C. Crisis Centre: 1-800-784-2433 or 1-800-SUICIDE,

• Fraser Health Crisis Line: 604-951-8855 or 1-877-820-7444

• Vancouver Mental Health Crisis Line: 604.874.7307

• Heretohelp: http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca

• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868

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