This Magazine

Progressive politics, ideas & culture
Menu

suicide

July-August 2018

I tried to kill myself. I survived. When Canada’s health care system failed me, I tried again, and again

What needs to change in our country's suicide crisis intervention system

Sarah Mann

For more than half my life, someone has been trying to kill me. That someone is me. The first time I considered ending my life, I was eight or nine years old, living in a rented house with my father and brother in Owen Sound, Ont. My mother had moved out years earlier, after my […] More »

The obvious gender bias at play in the media’s coverage of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain’s deaths

The two died by suicide just days apart, but the coverage of their deaths that followed was stark in its gendered differences

Lisa Whittington-Hill

The new issue of People magazine has both celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and fashion designer Kate Spade on its cover. Sadly, the magazine is the only weekly tabloid to give both stars the cover treatment, with other magazines featuring only Bourdain. When Spade and Bourdain died by suicide, just days apart, tributes and tweets celebrated the […] More »
January-February 2017

2017 Kick-Ass Activist: Dexter Nyuurnibe

In 2012, Dexter Nyuurnibe tried to take his life. Now, he’s a leader for greater mental health awareness among Canadian youth

Emily Rivas@RivasEmily

Dexter Nyuurnibe has the ability to command attention in any room. The 24-year-old is well-spoken, well-dressed, and charming. He’s a self-proclaimed lover of people, pugs, poutine, and unicorns. He’s that guy at the bar who ensures everyone is having a good time. He’s also probably the last person you would think would be struggling with mental […] More »
January-February 2017

Why Leah Parsons is still fighting to keep her daughter Rehtaeh’s memory alive

After the story of her daughter's death drew international attention nearly four years ago, Parsons now travels the country to share her daughter's story

Michaela Cavanagh@mmcavanagh

For Leah Parsons, healing through activism is about finding a balance between doing enough and not wearing herself down. “With everything I do, I ask myself, ‘Does it feel light, or does it feel heavy, emotionally?’” she says. Nearly four years after her daughter, Rehtaeh, took her own life, Parsons steadies herself by being a […] More »
November-December 2011

Interview: Paul Dennis on suicide, depression and hockey

Paul McLaughlin

The hockey world was shocked this summer when three tough guys (one just retired) died unexpectedly, one from an overdose of alcohol and pills and two others by suicide. When Wade Belak, a popular, seemingly happy former Toronto Maple Leaf hanged himself while in Toronto for the taping of CBC’s The Battle of the Blades, […] More »

4 ways Canadian prisons are getting worse than ever

simon wallace

1. Mental health, depression, and suicide are rampant We all know that prisons are too often warehouses for those amongst us suffering addictions or mental health problems. The actual numbers, however, are harrowing.  In federal penitentiaries 11% of prisoners have some sort of mental health diagnosis and 21.3% take prescription anti-psychotics on admission.  Almost 15% […] More »

Welcome to This Magazine's Legalization Week™

Graham F. Scott

The November-December issue of This is showing up in subscribers’ mailboxes and on better newsstands coast to coast this week, and today we’re kicking off “Legalization Week” to showcase the five stories and writers who contributed to this special issue. Today it’s Tim Falconer’s call to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Canada: Given that the boomers, […] More »