Discussions of mental health were heard around the council horseshoe Monday night.
A proposal to install a barrier on the Reversing Falls Bridge to stop people from jumping off was put forward by Councillor Gary Sullivan, after a number of mental health calls linked to the bridge in recent months.
“We had an incident a few weeks back on the Reversing Falls Bridge. Somebody else very close to me was involved… in that they were crossing the bridge at the time and witnessed the incident, and ended up on the phone with 9-1-1,” he said.
Sullivan says in 2017 the provincial government had set $500,000 aside to erect such a barrier, but no work was ever done.
“This has since been put on hold,” he said in his motion.
City Manager John Collin explained that while the city was on board with the idea at the time, they felt not enough work was done by the province to communicate with stakeholders like the tourism industry, which could be impacted by changes to the bridge.
As well, the city was concerned about the design of such a barrier, and what it would look like.
“Since then, the idea was shelved and citizens still choose to end their lives by jumping from the Reversing Falls Bridge,” reads Sullivan’s motion.
He wants to send another letter to the Department of Transportation, who own the bridge, asking to explore the possibility of a barrier.
“The least we could do is ask the province to get this back on their table. We certainly need more mental health support in Saint John,” he said, urging councillors to support his motion.
Sullivan also explains the bridge is a very public place, and is thinking not only of families and friends affected, but bystanders too.
Councillor Donna Reardon says while putting extra safety measures in place is important, she would rather see funds go towards mental health initiatives.
“That isn’t going to fix any problems, it’ll just prevent someone using that method. If I had my choice I’d rather invest the $500,000 into mental health, where I could get to the root of that problem and try to change people’s lives,” she said in an interview.
Reardon says she looks forward to continuing the mental health discussion in the city.
“With the bridge it’s very difficult so I guess it would be good to have something there in a lot of ways. Maybe not something as expensive as that, maybe netting would do it, I don’t know,” she said.
Mayor Don Darling says Saint John is experiencing a mental health crisis, and despite challenges, wants more to be done about it.
“I don’t think we’d have enough nets,” he said.
“We can’t lose sight of the root issues and the amount of pain and suffering… there’s a lot of challenges in delivering mental health services.”
