One year after a unanimous vote, Canada’s 3-digit suicide hotline number remains unimplemented

“All we’ve created at this point is hope, and we need to turn that hope into action.” said Doherty.

The United States is getting close to implementing the same three digit number. It took only a year after it became law for the U.S. government to determine that its number would most likely be in service by mid-2022.

Canada still does not have a clear deadline or how much funding will go into the 9-8-8 number.

“If we can throw a $670 million unneccessary election, we could get this done now.” said Doherty.

“We could get this done. It just has to have that political willpower at the cabinet level, at the government level. We could get it done.” said Doherty.

Organizations in the mental health field say a 9-8-8 number would not only provide services for those in rural communities, but also ease the burden on staff who try to reach to those same groups.

“The 9-8-8 would be reaching virtually every community for people that would have phone service. So that really expands to a lot of areas that absolutely have nothing.” said Maureen Davis, Executive Directory, Canadian Mental Health Association of Northern B.C.

Doherty says he is continuing discussions with other leaders and is hopeful that big changes towards a 9-8-8 implementation will be made in 2022.

“We’ll continue to do the things that we do, you know we can’t give up.” said Doherty.

by Oli Herrera

One year after a unanimous vote, Canada’s 3-digit suicide hotline number remains unimplemented

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