Nova Scotia’s Child Death Review Committee says many deaths among young people may have been preventable.
The committee’s latest annual report looks at deaths of Nova Scotians under the age of 25 that were investigated by the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service between 2009 and 2025.
That does not include every death of a young person in the province.
The report focuses on deaths that fall under the Medical Examiner Service, including accidental, suicidal and homicidal deaths, along with some other cases.
In total, the report summarizes 1,032 cases over the 17-year period.
The committee was created in 2021 and is required to report annually to the Minister of Justice on trends in deaths of Nova Scotians under 25, along with recommendations aimed at preventing future deaths.
Accidents remain a major focus
The report found 489 accidental deaths among Nova Scotians under 25 between 2009 and 2025.
Motor vehicle crashes were the largest category, making up 55 per cent of accidental deaths.
Drug toxicity accounted for 22 per cent, followed by drowning at eight per cent and fire or burn deaths at seven per cent.
Boys and young men were overrepresented in accidental deaths, making up 71 per cent of those cases.
The report also found accidental death rates were higher in rural areas than urban areas.
For motor vehicle deaths, 77 per cent involved males.
The committee says many traffic deaths involved young people between 15 and 24.
The report also notes motorcycles and ATVs made up a higher number of deaths in the 2021-to-2025 period than in earlier years.
Infant deaths and safe sleep
The report also looks at non-natural deaths among infants under one year old.
The Medical Examiner Service investigated 81 non-natural infant deaths from 2009 to 2025.
For 62 per cent of investigated deaths in that age group, the cause could not be determined.
Unsafe sleep practices leading to asphyxia or suffocation caused 18 per cent of deaths in the group.
The committee recommends strengthening safe sleep information through existing health and community programs, including family resource centres, IWK Child Safety Link and public health early years programs.
Suicide, homicide and inequities
The report found 258 suicide deaths among Nova Scotians under 25 from 2009 to 2025, with an average of 15 deaths per year.
Males made up 71 per cent of suicide deaths.
The report says transgender and non-binary Nova Scotians were overrepresented in suicide deaths in this age group.
It also found suicide rates were generally higher in areas with greater residential instability, economic dependency and situational vulnerability.
There were 62 homicide deaths among Nova Scotians under 25 over the same period.
Males made up 79 per cent of homicide deaths.
The report says Black and African Nova Scotians were overrepresented in homicide deaths.
The committee says these findings point to broader social and structural factors, not just individual behaviour.
It says prevention efforts should be targeted, culturally responsive and based on evidence.
Water safety, drugs and extreme weather
The report found 39 accidental drowning deaths among Nova Scotians under 25 between 2009 and 2025.
The committee says drowning deaths remain relatively small in number, but show an increasing trend over time.
It recommends water safety education for newcomers and international students, along with stronger public communication and programming around water safety.
The report also found 107 accidental drug toxicity deaths among people under 25.
The committee recommends that preventing drug-related harms remain a priority across several provincial departments.
The report also identifies four climate or disaster-related deaths among people under 25.
Those include drowning deaths connected to flash flooding in 2023 and severe rainfall from post-tropical storm Beryl in 2024.
The committee recommends better tracking of deaths and non-fatal harms connected to extreme weather events.
Recommendations
The committee’s recommendations include stronger tracking of missing people under 25, more work on safe infant sleep, stronger road and ATV safety oversight, water safety education, drug harm prevention, and suicide and homicide prevention focused on high-risk groups.
It also recommends the province look at public pool regulations.
That recommendation came from the committee’s first individual review of a death of someone under 19 who was in the care and custody of the province.
The committee says Nova Scotia should move beyond guidance for pool operators and adopt a regulatory framework similar to those in other Canadian jurisdictions.
