Former Canadian soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder pleaded with the federal government Thursday to provide more support to soldiers and veterans struggling with mental illness, while earlier in the day a funeral was held for a Canadian solider who took his own life, one of four military-linked suicides in the span of a week.
Kate MacEachern, a former corporal, told a news conference in Ottawa how she nearly took her own life after learning she that she was possibly going to be forced out of her uniform.
She said she doesn't believe the Prime Minister or military brass when they tell soldiers in distress that help is available.
"Lots of words are now being spoken, but it's too late for some," she said. "Why did we have to wait until now?"
MacEachern said she quit the military last summer after being denied time off earlier this year to lead a fundraising walk in aid of injured soldiers, particularly those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
She called on the government -- and Canadians at large -- to do everything possible to prevent further deaths.
"The conversation needs to happen," she pleaded tearfully. "Please, no more of my brothers and sisters. We can't lose any more. One is too many. Four is a national tragedy."
MacEachern said former defence minister Peter MacKay gave her words of encouragement when she completed her first fundraising walk in 2012, but said they now ring hollow.
"He told me that day that if I ever needed anything to contact his office," she said. "2,080 miles later, and many more tears than that, I never saw nor heard from him again."
The government says soldiers and their families trying to cope with PTSD can call a confidential toll-free referral service at 1-800-268-7708.
But another veteran, Mike Cole, from Trenton, Ont., said soldiers are telling him that when they call, they get put on hold, or are simply told to go to the hospital.
Although troubled soldiers are being publicly urged to reach out, an internal memo from one platoon commander at CFB Shilo in Manitoba, obtained by CTV News, instructs soldiers not to speak to the media unless they’ve received permission from the chain of command.
More than 1,000 km away in Truro, N.S., family, friends and colleagues of Michael McNeil gathered for his funeral Thursday. A warrant officer in the Armed Forces, McNeil recently committed suicide at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, northwest of Ottawa. Three other soldiers have also died over the past week as a result of apparent suicides.
McNeil’s brother, Kevin, said that while PTSD is a problem that is not going to go away, the risks can be minimized.
"The most we can do is maybe slow it down," he said, speaking outside the armoury in Truro, N.S. "As much money as government is going to pour into this, it's not going to stop. What we can do is make more people aware, more families going through the same thing we are going through to talk to these soldiers, know their jobs aren't in jeopardy and we're here for them."
The Armed Forces has already acknowledged that it will be dealing with an increased number of PTSD cases in the next decade as the stress of combat takes hold in those who have returned from the fighting in Afghanistan.
McNeil, 39, was a member 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper weighed in on the issue on Wednesday, saying everyone should encourage veterans in need to reach out to the systems that are there to help.
With files from The Canadian Press
