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Ever since a veil was erected on Toronto's Bloor St.
viaduct, Jacques Cartier bridge has earned a macabre reputation
MONTREAL -- The Jacques Cartier Bridge is often called the
most beautiful span off the island of Montreal -- an elegant cantilever link
that soars high over the St. Lawrence River and defines the city's skyline.
Millions of cars roll over it, and thousands more people
pedal and walk. But another group is drawn to the bridge for a more macabre
reason. An average of 45 people try to kill themselves by jumping off the
Jacques Cartier Bridge each year, and about 10 succeed -- making the Montreal
landmark the biggest suicide magnet in the world after San Francisco's Golden
Gate Bridge.
That grisly distinction has sparked an emotional debate
over federal authorities' refusal to install an antisuicide barrier to stop
people from jumping to their deaths.
The Jacques Cartier Bridge moved up in the suicide rankings
after Toronto erected its "luminous veil" on the Bloor Street Viaduct, knocking
Toronto from the second suicide spot. Now Toronto has become the model to answer
the conundrum: Do barriers deter or just divert would-be jumpers?
Last week, the Federal Bridge Corporation, which is
responsible for the Jacques Cartier Bridge, refused to give barriers the
go-ahead, and an official said Toronto's experience was a factor.
"It would be investing an enormous amount for something
that risks moving the problem elsewhere," said André Girard, spokesman for the
federal bridge authority, adding that the cost would reach about $13-million.
"Toronto's experience is inconclusive."
Barrier proponents say the federal agency's position is
costing lives. At 7:11 last Friday morning, two days after the federal agency
said it wasn't moving ahead with barriers, a 29-year-old man clambered over the
Jacques Cartier Bridge's relatively low railing and plunged to his death. The
Quebec coroner's office says it was an impulsive act.
"If there had been a barrier, that person wouldn't be dead
today," said Dr. Paul Dionne, a Quebec coroner who has called for antisuicide
barriers.
"You have to be stupid not to realize that someone, in an
impulsive gesture, can just jump over the railing into the void. This is
stubbornness for the bridge authorities not to want to attack the problem."
The issue is particularly acute in Quebec, which has the
highest suicide rate in Canada.
Between 1,400 and 1,500 people take their lives each year,
twice the number of those killed in road accidents.
Among Quebec men aged 15 to 39, suicide is the leading
cause of death.
"The bridge authority's position reflects the attitude we
have in Quebec society -- suicide has become banal," Dr. Dionne said yesterday
in an interview. "Imagine four Airbus planes a year crashing into the end of the
runway at Pierre Elliot Trudeau airport," referring to the new name for Dorval
International Airport in Montreal.
"After the first one, there would be a commission of
inquiry. We have 1,500 deaths a year and we don't talk about it."
Experts say barriers have stopped people from killing
themselves at suicide spots around the world, from the Eiffel Tower and the
Empire State building to St. Peter's Basilica.
"Almost all the other dangerous places in the world have
put up barriers," said Brian Mishara, a suicide authority at the University of
Quebec at Montreal and vice-president of the International Association for
Suicide Prevention.
Canada's federal bridge authorities "are going to extremes
to ignore the reality of the situation, and not admitting what seems obvious.
For them, it's a question of not wanting to spend the money to save the lives."
Part of the bridge's lure is simply its easy access. The
2.8-kilometre-long span, inaugurated by Prime Minister Mackenzie King in 1930,
links Montreal with its bustling suburbs on the South Shore. Aside from keeping
commuters stewing in traffic at rush hour, it also has a sidewalk used routinely
by cyclists and pedestrians. On several nights each summer, it's closed to
traffic and crowds turn it into a giant viewing stand to watch the city's
fireworks festival.
Mr. Mishara said most people who attempt to jump off the
Jacques Cartier are disturbed and anguished, and a barrier would give them time
to reconsider their impulsive act.
"Controlling access to means doesn't get to at the root
problems of suicides but it saves lives effectively by buying time for people to
get help," he said. "Most people who are desperately suicidal find other
solutions to their problems."
Canada's bridge officials have been spurred by
public-health officials to study antisuicide barriers for years. The officials
received a feasibility study this summer saying barriers would probably prevent
suicides; they ordered another report, released last week, saying that it was
impossible to prove "beyond a doubt" that barriers move the problem elsewhere.
Federal bridge officials said the latest report proved
there is no agreement among experts. And they say Toronto may illustrate that
the barrier won't deter a determined person at all. Last year, a 60-year-old
taxi driver took the subway to get to the Bloor Street Viaduct but, finding work
crews putting up the suicide barrier, took the bus to the nearby Leaside Bridge,
and killed himself.
Dr. James Edwards, supervising coroner for Toronto East,
said it will take time before officials can be sure the barriers work. "It
certainly stopped some people from that bridge, but the question is whether
people just went elsewhere," he said yesterday. "We don't know if it has cut the
overall number of suicides. If it prevents 15 suicides it would be great, but it
people are going elsewhere, the value would be more questionable."
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