Canadian Ret. General talks about his own battle with PTSD

Military grapples with attempted suicide
North Bay Nipissing
December 4, 2013

It was drawn in especially sharp relief Tuesday when Liberal Sen. Romeo Dallaire, arguably Canada's highest-profile military victim of post-traumatic stress, nodded off at the wheel and crashed into a traffic barrier on Parliament Hill.

The retired general later admitted that the news last week that three Canadian soldiers had killed themselves, coupled with the coming 20th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide, have left him unable to sleep, even with medication.

OTTAWA - The moment the Canadian military told him he was being discharged because of his post-traumatic stress disorder, Master Cpl. Kristian Wolowidnyk felt his life was over.

Two days later, on Nov. 21, Wolowidnyk — a former combat engineer who survived the desolation of Kandahar in 2009 and 2010 — tried to take his own life, but survived.

Veterans advocates say a number of suicides within the military in recent days may only hint at the magnitude of the problem.

For every death by suicide, they warn, as many as 12 others may have sought the same fate.

Defence officials confirmed Tuesday that military police are investigating the death of a member of the Royal 22e Regiment at CFB Valcartier in Quebec as the fourth apparent Canadian Forces suicide in a week.
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