Hillsborough Bridge again in suicide-prevention spotlight, with vigil and calls for barriers

Shivering in the cold wind whipping off Charlottetown Harbour, Vincent Adams led a group of about 20 people onto the Hillsborough Bridge's pedestrian walkway Sunday to leave messages of love they hope will prevent suicides.

"Each cross comes from a family who have lost someone, so they are powerful," Adams said of the 75 small wooden crosses the group attached to the railing with plastic ties. 

"So when people walk out to that bridge and they see those crosses, I hope that they understand before they do something they are loved by many, and it has far-reaching effects when you do something serious." 

The afternoon event followed a week in which mental health advocates and P.E.I.'s Liberal party renewed calls for suicide-prevention barriers to be put up on the bridge that links Charlottetown and Stratford.

"Those deter people from taking their own lives and that's really what this is about," said Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly.

According to Charlottetown Police, 14 people have attempted to kill themselves on the bridge over the last five years. Two have died. That number doesn't include calls the RCMP may have responded to for the same incidents. 

Barriers on the bridge have been debated on P.E.I. many times in past, including in past government suicide prevention strategies.

The P.E.I. government's own Suicide Prevention Strategy from 2018 calls for barriers on the bridge, to "reduce availability, accessibility, and attractiveness of means through erecting bridge barriers on the Hillsborough Bridge and including signage and/or helpline phones at other sites (i.e. North River Causeway)."

There are currently two cameras on the bridge, and the province has agreed to install more. But they said physical barriers, like those installed on the Covehead bridge in Stanhope, may not be possible. 

"Barriers are a bit more of an obstacle, due to the structural engineering, and the [wind] load the bridge can take, so I'd have to go back to the department and get some clarity on that but I know there is concern around that," P.E.I. Transport Minister Cory Deagle said in the legislature.

Deagle also said this may be a good time to look at increasing mental health funding and supports on P.E.I. 

"Would our resources be better spent on prevention, before that person gets to the bridge?"

In 2021, provincial engineers said the bridge was not designed for the higher wind loads associated with the additional rail height.

But McNeilly wants the province to take another look.