Agricultural producers face significantly higher rates of mental illness, including anxiety and depression, than the general population. Farmers may be especially vulnerable as they often have little control over external factors such as the weather or trade agreements, while managing financial pressures and isolation.
The Union des Producteurs Agricoles (UPA) recognized the growing mental health crisis among farmers years ago, along with the need for support programs and suicide prevention services. In response, the union began collaborating with the Association Québécoise de Prevention du Suicide (AQPS) to create a network of gatekeepers or sentinels who are trained to recognize signs of distress and identify people at risk within their communities.
Since then, the network has grown to include thousands of individuals, and new training workshops are regularly offered in French through the province’s regional UPA federations.
After the Haut-Saint-Laurent syndicate pushed for more mental health services to be made available in English last year, two workshops have been held for the English-speaking farm community. Organized in collaboration with the Montreal Suicide Prevention Centre (MSPC), the workshops took place in Saint-Ignace-de-Stanbridge and in Ormstown.
The full-day training sessions were led by Pierre Rivard, a training specialist with the MSPC, who has been conducting these workshops in various sectors for around four years. The two sessions with the UPA were his first working directly with the agricultural community.
“I thought the people attending were probably going to be older farmers, but for the vast majority, it was women that showed up,” he said, noting this was quite common. “What this tells us is that men, in general, are not comfortable opening up,” Rivard suggested, before pointing out that 75 per cent of suicides in Quebec are completed by men.
Rivard said that according to estimates, at least 100,000 Quebecers experience suicidal thoughts each year. The suicide rate for the general population is around 11.4 deaths per 100,000 people. It more than doubles to 31.4 suicides per 100,000 people in the agricultural community.
Rivard explained that the gatekeeper workshops revolve around demystify suicide and ensuring participants are comfortable asking whether someone is considering ending their life. “Once you ask that question, that is when the healing starts,” he said. “You are present with somebody who is suffering, you are a witness to what they are experiencing, and you are building a trusting bond with them by being very concerned, asking the right questions, and then guiding them toward the support that they deserve.”
When asked whether there is data demonstrating the success of the gatekeeper program, Rivard responded that Quebec’s suicide rate was around 1,900 per year around 25 years ago. The number has been reduced since then to approximately 1,100 deaths per year.
“That’s 800 people less per year that are completing suicide. We love that number and we want to keep heading in the right direction,” said Rivard.