MANITOULIN—The Canadian Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Canada need to do a better job of ensuring veterans receive the physical and mental health assistance they need, after risking their lives for their country, says a representative of the War Pensioners of Canada (WPC). This comes after the recent murder-suicide of a Canadian Afghanistan veteran (who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder) and three members of his family.
“For the authorities to say there were no beds for him, I don’t know, there must have been other resources available or intervention. Someone missed something,” stated Colin Pick, president of the Espanola-Manitoulin-North Shore branch of the WPC in response to the apparent murder-suicide of a military veteran, Lionel Desmond, his newly-graduated nurse wife, their 10-year-old daughter and her grandmother in Nova Scotia earlier this month.
Nova Scotia RCMP said Mr. Desmond appeared to have shot himself and the three other victims died of apparent gunshot wounds. He served with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan and suffered from PTSD. He retired as a corporal. He had been posted at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick and was seeking help and treatment for his condition since he left the military.
A Department of National Defense spokesperson told CBC News in a statement that Mr. Desmond was an infantryman with 2nd Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment. He enrolled in 2004 and deployed to Afghanistan from January to August of 2007.
Rev. Elaine Walcott, who lives just outside of Halifax and is related to the victims, told CBC News that Lionel Desmond had recently spent time in a Montreal clinic for post-traumatic stress disorder. She said that he had been crying out for help from the mental health system and had tried to get treatment very recently, but was told there were no beds available.
“All he was asking for was help,” said Mr. Pick. He pointed out, “this month is national Bell Let’s Talk about Mental Illness month and there are all kinds of stuff, on the radio, TV and in newspapers, to educate people on mental illness and the need for people to be able to talk about their issues.”
“It’s the ones that fall through the cracks that we hear about,” said Mr. Pick. “It’s sad, people can be showing signs and symptoms, but in a lot of cases others don’t read them right.”
“More needs to be done for our veterans,” said Mr. Pick. “When a person calls out for help, that help has to be there. To not have support available to (Mr. Desmond) is not right. Someone should have made sure he had the help and support he needed. Counselling and support services are needed even when they are making progress.”
