Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Researchers are trying to determine if a number of Canadian veterans are suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
CTE is often accompanied by psychiatric symptoms, which could develop into suicidal thoughts, according to researchers. However, little is understood scientifically about a possible link, nor how widespread CTE is among veterans.
Standing inside a brain imaging lab at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, researcher Isabelle Boileau says it’s possible that armed forces members who’ve been exposed to explosions could be suffering from CTE.
The challenge is detection. Currently, CTE can only be discovered once a person has died. Boileau is leading a research study that examines traumatic brain injuries in military veterans. So far, about 25 people have volunteered to take part. She hopes more people join.
“There are certain documented cases of (military) individuals who've died by suicide that had proof in their brain that they had CTE,” said Boileau.
A military suicides report released in 2021 outlined that, over the previous decade, 191 Canadian military personnel died by suicide. By comparison, 158 service members were killed in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014.
Brendan Hynes served in Canada's military for nearly 30 years. (Image courtesy of Brendan Hynes)
Brendan Hynes served as a member of the Canadian military for nearly three decades. For 11 of those years, he was a member of JTF2, Canada's top-tier special operations force. Dispatched to Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, Hynes estimates that he's been exposed to approximately two thousand explosives.
He says the physical toll of working with explosives is akin to “being in a boxing match each day,” though he never thought his work in the military would take the toll it did on his brain.
While still enlisted, he began to struggle with his focus and temperament. After being discharged, the father of two nearly died by suicide. He recalls thinking about it one day while driving home from shopping with his daughters: “I was going to go home with my kids and I'd come up with a plan for how I was going to take care of that, how I was going to end my life,” he said.
“That institutional abandonment that our soldiers and veterans suffer, I say that's one of the greatest factors we see in the epidemic that is veteran suicides,” says Hynes.
In a written statement to CTV News, Canada’s Department of National Defence told CTV News they welcome the research being done and are doing their part to put in new safety procedures, saying in part that "the unique nature of injuries resulting from military deployment creates specific challenges for both CAF personnel and the medical community responsible for providing combat casualty treatment and post-deployment care."
Hynes says more needs to be done. He’s learning about far too many members of the military who haven’t received the support needed.
“Someone, [from the military] about every four to six months, who I know… who I'm close to, takes their own life,” said Hynes.
Hynes credits the love and support of his wife and daughters as one of the only reasons he’s still here to tell his story.
Brendan Hynes credits his family's support for helping him overcome suicidal ideation. (Image courtesy of Brendan Hynes)
The former special forces soldier is demanding more support from the Canadian Military for those suffering from a traumatic brain injury.
CTV News asked the Department of Defence if they’ve followed any recent medical research recommendations to prevent brain trauma in members of the armed forces.
“While multiple studies on brain injuries have been published with various conclusions over the past decade, the Department of National Defence (DND) has erred on the side of caution by decreasing training exposure limits in terms of round counts with high-caliber weapons, and increasing the safe distance to explosives during training," wrote the department in an email.
"Several research initiatives are still ongoing to better understand the physiopathology of brain injury (whether acute or repetitive), with the goals of early injury prevention and diagnosis.”
With files from The Canadian Press
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Ron Ellis, who played over 1,000 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and was a member of Canada's team at the 1972 Summit Series, has died at age 79.
The wildfire that sparked Friday and caused evacuation orders for more than 3,000 people in Fort Nelson, B.C., and the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has grown to nearly 1,700 hectares in size, according to a Saturday morning update from the BC Wildfire Service.
Hours before the final, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was dramatically booted out by organizers over a backstage incident. He had failed to perform at two dress rehearsals on Friday, and contest organizer the European Broadcasting Union said it was investigating an "incident."
From London, to Mildmay, Collingwood and St. Thomas, here are some highlights of Friday night and Saturday morning's northern lights display.
A growing number of civilians and police officers are demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti's police chief as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince, seizing control of yet another police station early Saturday.
Irresponsibly using a credit card can land you in financial trouble, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says when used properly, it can be a powerful wealth-building tool that can help grow your credit profile and create new opportunities.
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
A man who was accused of sexually and physically assaulting a woman had his charges dropped in April, just weeks before he was set to stand trial in Toronto, due to a lack of judges in the region.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.