EDITORIAL – The tragic arithmetic of death by suicide in our community

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

MORE THAN 200 people went for a walk around McArthur Island yesterday (Sept. 6, 2025). They were there for a specific purpose — to honor those they knew who have died by suicide, and to raise awareness about prevention and the need to talk about it openly.

It was the third annual walk on the occasion of World Suicide Prevention Day, which doesn’t actually happen until Sept. 10, but because that date falls mid-week, the walk and observance were held Saturday.

Prior to the annual walks, smaller observances were held in Kamloops for several years. World Suicide Prevention Day is now an event in 40-some countries, which isn’t enough but it’s growing.

During the speeches and the walk, I did some mental arithmetic. Old wisdom says that each suicide affects the life of six people. But that’s just family members, and we now know that many more people than that are affected. Friends, caregivers, colleagues, any community member who knew the deceased. Newer research puts the number at 135.

So, if 250 Kamloops residents attend a Suicide Prevention Day walk, there are likely — and this is just conjecture but it would make for an important study — at least double that number who are affected because obviously many others are unable to attend for various reasons.

So let’s use 500 as a reasonable number. Multiply that by 135 and we get 67,500. That’s an astounding number, especially given the fact that the current population of Kamloops is 104,000. So way more than half our community has been affected by suicide.

Suicide harms not only the person who has died by it, but all those who knew that person. Everyone who has lost someone to suicide has been injured. Their lives have been changed.

There are all kinds of statistics connected to suicide. Three times more men die by suicide than women. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death. In fact, StatsCan says suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults. About 12 people die by suicide every day in Canada. Twelve per cent of us have had thoughts of suicide.

In Kamloops, 21 people died by suicide in 2023, the most recent number available, and the highest in 10 years and fifth highest in the province.

That suggests  the number of people in our Kamloops community who are affected, i.e. harmed in some way, by suicide is increasing. Suicide is hurting us as a community, not just as individuals who have lost sons, daughters, grand-children or other loved ones.

That’s what makes it so important to keep talking about it, and searching for solutions.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.