By Adam Brazeau
CORNWALL, Ontario – Suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder are two subjects a Cornwall veteran group wants out in the open.
Friends of Vets held its second annual candlelight vigil at the Cornwall Cenotaph on Wednesday, Dec. 10.
Garry Samler, president of the local peer support group, called for more government aid to address this year’s rash of military, police, veteran, and first responder suicides linked to PTSD.
“There simply isn’t enough being done to help our wounded veterans when they return home with a mental illness,” said Samler.
His wife and event co-organizer, Helene Paquin, told the dozen people in attendance who braved flurries of snow, that roughly 20 veterans take their own lives every year. She later explained that the number could be even higher since the government only counts those currently serving in the forces.
She estimates that more Canadian soldiers have been lost to suicide than there have been lives lost in combat in Afghanistan.
“It’s completely unacceptable more isn’t being done,” said Paquin. “This needs to change.”
With close family ties to the military, and a husband with over 20 years in the army and the navy who was previously diagnosed with PTSD, she’s demanding action.
Paquin believes one way to assist veterans and soldiers cope with the illness is having an ally like man’s best friend.
“It’s been proven that service dogs help,” she said.
The candlelight vigil was originally scheduled for Oct. 22, but due to two senseless tragedies involving Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, who was killed after being struck in a hit-and-run attack in Quebec on Oct. 20, and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, who was gunned down days later at the war memorial on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, for safety reasons, it was postponed.
“After service some of our fellow veterans felt or became abandoned broken, jobless, homeless, living in poverty with little or no hope or income, eating at food banks or self-medicating to ease the pains of our wounds, disability or mental illness,” said Samler.
“This tragic problem is something that Mr Harper, his government, and our military shamefully do not want us to see or recognize. As a nation we all pay for the high cost of mental illness.”
Friends of Vets gather at the Cornwall Wesleyan Church (780 Sydney Street) for meetings on the first and third Thursday of every month starting at 7 p.m.
For more information, visit www.friendsofvets.org.
