(LifeSiteNews) – Researchers with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) discovered that suicidal ideation rose significantly during the two-year period that Canadian governments inflicted draconian lockdowns on residents.
The research was published in May and based on a survey conducted between February 1 and May 7 of 2021. The PHAC researchers found an almost doubling of suicidal tendencies in 2021, compared to pre-lockdown findings.
Suicidal ideation – a feeling or desire to do self-harm – went from 2.7 per cent among adults in 2019 to 4.2 per cent in 2021.
In a recent interview with Global News, Sarah Kennell, the national director of public policy with the National Office of the Canadian Mental Health Association, said, “sadly, that information is not surprising to us. We’ve been conducting similar research in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, and the data certainly resonates.”
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Sixteen-year-old Lexi Daken of New Brunswick committed suicide in February of 2021, and her family is convinced that the lockdown sequestering of youths from their friends and activities was paramount in Lexi’s declining mental health.
Due to government-imposed restrictions on the health care system, Lexi was sent home without any solution after having waited many hours in the hospital and after she had told health care workers she was suicidal.
Children and youth were put under harsh lockdown conditions in Canada, even though there is no marked increase in mortality risk for them compared to other illnesses such as the flu.
A similar trend has been seen with deaths associated with opioid overdosing. Ontario saw “surge” in opioid overdoses in the province during lockdowns.
Homeless people and the unemployed accounted for a significant portion of the fatal overdoses.
A report from the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network found that fatal overdoses increased more than 75 per cent after lockdowns were introduced compared to the year before.
Lexi herself had previously overdosed on drugs before she committed suicide.
Canadian regions chose to continue in oppressive and dangerous lockdowns despite evidence from regions, like Sweden, that never had oppressive restrictions.
Sweden kept schools open, and as the Brownstone Institute reported, “Sweden followed the actual science and not The Science™… [N]o one in the media or public health establishment was willing to discuss the inarguable reality that Sweden’s results were no worse than many countries across the globe — and significantly better than many, many others.”
“…Sweden, the country that eschewed strict lockdowns, had some of the lowest mask usage anywhere on earth, kept schools open and society functioning as much as possible, and had one of the lowest rates of overall mortality of any country in their region.”
Young kids like Lexi would not have faced the same mental health triggers in a nation like Sweden which took a more human approach to dealing with public health.