WOODSTOCK, Ont. — Hundreds of students have walked out of their classrooms to raise awareness about a number of suicides in their small southwestern Ontario city.
Police in Woodstock, Ont., say that five people aged 19 and younger have killed themselves since late February.
The chief of police says that in the same time frame, 36 people have expressed suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide in Oxford County, which includes Woodstock and seven neighbouring communities.
Officials in the area say they're working together to ensure they have enough resources to deal with the onslaught of calls to crisis lines, but high school students say they aren't seeing the effects.
Students walked out of their classes at about 9 a.m. Tuesday, and headed to a town square. They've taken to social media to demand more hospital beds and more readily available crisis counsellors.
A representative from the school board didn't immediately provide comment.
