Ottawa must act

Canada must do more for our troubled veterans

By all accounts, Lionel Desmond was a good soldier, described by a military veteran who served with him in Afghanistan as a “go-to guy” who wouldn’t say no to anything and always had a smile on his face. Desmond, a lifelong resident of Nova Scotia, joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 2004, trained as a sniper and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2007 during a time when 26 Canadian soldiers were killed serving as part of Canada’s combat mission in that war-torn country.

By the time Desmond was released from the military in 2015 he had risen to the rank of corporal.

But after he returned from Afghanistan, Desmond began showing signs of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to relatives, he heard voices in his head, suffered severe mood swings and had disturbing flashbacks. Because of this, Desmond sought professional help, tried various medications and recently spent a few weeks in treatment in Montreal.

In a last-ditch effort to get help, he reportedly tried last week to check in to a mental-health unit at a regional hospital near his home in Upper Big Tracadie, N.S., but was turned away because no beds were available.

On Tuesday, the 33-year-old veteran was found dead at his home in an apparent murder-suicide in which his wife, Shanna, their 10-year-old daughter Aaliyah, and his mother, Brenda, were shot to death.

This tragedy in Nova Scotia is not the first time a soldier or military veteran with PTSD has died in an apparent murder-suicide. Just 13 months ago in the Bathurst-St. Clair Ave. West area of Toronto, Robert Giblin, who served two tours in Afghanistan, stabbed his pregnant wife; then he and his wife fell from their high-rise apartment.

But the deaths of Lionel Desmond and his family members once again underlines the need for the Canadian government to provide dramatically more help for soldiers and veterans with PTSD.

Indeed, we should all be ashamed that there is so little support for military personnel — and for all in need of mental health treatment — and that someone in crisis and seeking emergency help can be turned away at a hospital’s door.

Barely six weeks ago, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said the government would spare no expense in caring for the country’s military personnel. He should live up to that commitment.

Sajjan made the comment after a new report prepared by the armed forces’ top medical officer found that many of the 18 military personnel who committed suicide in 2015 had sought mental-health treatment before they took their lives. Another study has found that a total of more than 70 veterans of the Afghanistan conflict have committed suicide.

As the Star has argued strongly in the past, the Canadian Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs need to do a far better job of ensuring the physical and mental health of people who risked their lives for Canada.

In recent years, the Canadian Forces and Veterans Affairs have stepped up efforts to help those seeking help for PTSD, including opening special clinics and hiring more trained staff.

This is encouraging, but clearly more needs to be done. As Gary Walbourne, ombudsman for the Canadian military, said in the wake of this week’s tragedy, Ottawa needs to ensure all necessary benefits and supports are in place to help both active and retired military people. “There is opportunity in the system,” he said. “Somebody’s got to make some decisions.”

Walbourne is right; it’s high time for Ottawa to act.