Survivors, leaders gather for suicide prevention summit in Iqaluit

"If I was king of the world, I would stop suicide."

Joanasie Akumalik lost his son, Clyde, to suicide in 2013. Now he's one of the organizers of a suicide prevention summit in Iqaluit that starts Wednesday afternoon.

Survivors of suicide, members of Inuit organizations, and community wellness leaders are gathering at the Frobisher Inn for the Atausiuqatigiingniq Inuusirmi Stakeholder Summit for Suicide Prevention.

The summit was announced in March at the release of a one-year suicide prevention action plan from the Nunavut government, Nunavut Tunngavik, the Embrace Life Council and RCMP.

Over the next three days, the group hopes to develop a longer term suicide prevention action plan.

"I think people getting together, I will be able to learn how other communities and other people deal with issues — whether it's grieving or how to come up with prevention," said Akumalik.

He believes suicide will never go away, but he hopes Nunavut's high suicide rates can be lowered.

"If we can start decreasing the amount, it would show that we're doing something."

The summit ends Friday evening with a memory walk from the Frobisher Inn to Iqaluit's lake subdivision.