A $4-million barrier may be installed on a St. Catharines bridge this year as part of a framework for preventing deaths by suicide approved by Niagara's public health committee Tuesday.

Niagara Region acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji proposed adding the barriers among several initiatives in response to concerns about potential increases in the local number of mental health-related deaths.

Hirji said Niagara averages at about 44.4 suicide deaths a year, but "in the last few years we are seeing a bit of an increase."

Preliminary data shows "there is potentially a bit of a worrying trend here, that possibly risk of suicide is going up in Niagara," he added.

And with the public attention focused on three recent deaths at Burgoyne Bridge — where there was at least one other attempt — Hirji recommended that the committee endorse the importance of considering a barrier this year, with a final decision to be made following further study this spring.

While Hirji's recommendation left room for council to back out of adding the barriers if it's determined they are not warranted, St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik — his city council voted unanimously Nov. 12 to ask the Region to investigate adding barriers to the bridge — amended the motion to also include funding for the barriers in this year's budget, removing any doubt about their installation in 2019.

In a recorded vote, only Fort Erie Coun. Tom Insinna and St. Catharines Coun. Tim Rigby were against Sendzik's amendment.

"If we're going to put a barrier on a bridge where do we stop?" Insinna asked. "If someone really has that desire, whether there is a barrier there or not, they're going to do what they're going to do. How many properties would we have to look at. We have bridges all over the place. Some people might say I'm insensitive, but I'd like to see money for the bridge spent on the root cause."

Insinna and Rigby both said the $4 million might be better used to fund mental health programs that could help people from reaching the point of considering suicide.

"This is actually potentially a very effective way of preventing deaths by suicide," Hirji said.

Although there are 44 other areas across Niagara where there's an elevated risk of suicides, he said adding them to the St. Catharines bridge would have the greatest impact.

In addition to adding the barriers to the St. Catharines bridge, Hirji also discussed concerns about public discussion regarding the suicides, whether it's through traditional media sources, or social media websites.

Citing studies, Hirji said drawing attention to suicides particularly at one location can contribute to contagion, leading to other suicides in an area.

He said recent suicides at the St. Catharines bridge, for instance, were within 10 days of media reports about the deaths. Since then, he said, health department officials met with local media to discuss the issues, describing it as "very positive collaboration."

Sendzik, however, told Hirji if there wasn't an article on what happened, "we wouldn't have this report that is finally coming to close the gaps that exist in what we're trying to achieve here."

"If it wasn't for the media writing about this, we wouldn't be sitting here having this discussion. There would still be people falling through the cracks. We just wouldn't be talking about it," he said.

"It would be in the shadows of some family secret of something that happened."

Sendzik also questioned data presented by Hirji, showing that no deaths had occurred at the bridge in the 10 years prior to 2018.

After living in the city throughout his life, Sendzik said he knows that is not the case.

"For anyone to sit here and say that hasn't happened, they don't know the families that have been impacted by that location," he told Hirji. "You can point at data all you want. There's flaws in that data."

Hirji said his presentation was based on data provided from the coroner's office.

"Ultimately this is the data I received. I'm looking at the data objectively. This is what I have," he said.

"The data is flawed," Sendzik added. "They're not small inaccuracies."

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Hirji's recommendations also included expanding programs such as those offered at Oak Centre Clubhouse in Welland to other areas. Oak Centre provides peer support for people who are struggling with depression and mental illness.

Allan.Benner@niagaradailies.com

905-225-1629 | @abenner1