Forth suicide in Canadian Military within a week

Another Canadian soldier dies of apparent suicide
CTV News Canada
December 3, 2013

Another Canadian soldier has died of an apparent suicide, after three veterans were found dead last week.

Master Cpl. Sylvain Lelievre, 46, was a member of the Royal 22e Regiment at CFB Valcartier in Quebec. Friends say he was a decorated soldier who served in Bosnia and Afghanistan. His body was discovered Monday near the base.

One friend said Lelievre was “an outstanding soldier, always proud to serve his country.”

Alain Brunet, who served with Lelievre in Germany more than two decades ago, told CTV News his friend was known for his “contagious” smile.

“The guy just wanted to please everybody. Will do anything for any friends or anything that needs help,” he said. Brunet’s wife, Tracy, said she wanted Lelievre to be remembered as “somebody that had a huge heart, a heart of gold."

She said he was loved by everyone who knew him.
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Soldier attempts suicide after being told PTSD will end military career
The Canadian Press and Murray Brewster
Dec 3, 2013

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.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Wolowidnyk — a husband and father to a two-year-old child — said he was desperate to stay in the military and re-qualify for another military trade.

Not only was he denied, but he was told that his psychological injuries, including anxiety and serious depression, did not qualify him to remain in the military as part of a prolonged release process for injured soldiers.

He spent a week in the mental health wing of the civilian Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton before being released to his family — and to confront the reality of his military career coming to an abrupt end sometime within the next year.
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