Calgary teen takes a stand against suicide T-shirts sold by Amazon

Maggie Harder isn’t your average teen. The 14-year-old Calgary ninth-grader recently wrote multiple letters to Amazon, requesting that they stop selling T-shirts that joke about suicide.

The letters are part of her Liberate Minds campaign, one of which she’s posted online.

“If you know someone who clinically has a mental illness you know that mental illness is not something to make fun of,” wrote Harder.

“Not only seeing these products, but having others call the slogans on them funny is discouraging to those with a mental illness. It is discouraging because seeing others take their illness lightly may negatively affect their willingness to reach out for help.”

Harder’s anti T-shirt campaign began soon after friends told her about the issue, many of them who have mental illnesses themselves. The teen has written at least six letters to Amazon and has not yet received a reply.

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, suicide is the second leading cause of death for Canadians aged 15 to 24.