A Quebec coroner says Montreal's Champlain Bridge needs anti-suicide barrier

A recently released Quebec coroner report says that Montreal's Champlain Bridge needs to improve its safety barrier, after a 38-year-old man jumped to his death from the structure in May 2022. The Samuel de Champlain bridge is seen with the old bridge in the background in Montreal on Monday, June 17, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

A Quebec coroner says Montreal's Samuel-De Champlain Bridge must have a suicide-prevention barrier installed, after a 38-year-old man jumped to his death from the structure last May.

Dr. Jean E. Brochu said in his report released Jan. 5 that the current barrier along the bridge's pedestrian pathway should be made impossible to climb.

He suggested as a model the anti-suicide fence installed in 2004 on the city's Jacques Cartier Bridge.

Brochu's report says Erik Bouton was seen by security guards on May 22 standing "upright and motionless" on the bridge's pathway before the man jumped into the St. Lawrence River.

A national suicide prevention group recommends that bridges have adequate barriers to help prevent suicides.

Robert Olson with the Centre for Suicide Prevention says anti-suicide fences are not systematically installed on new bridges because of the cost or for esthetic reasons.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2023.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.