Defence minister promises action as report shows 18 military suicides in 2015
OTTAWA — The federal government will spare no expense in caring for Canada’s military personnel, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Wednesday after a new report revealed 18 service members took their own lives in 2015.
The report, compiled and published by the top medical officer in the Canadian Forces, also concluded that many of the 18 military personnel had sought some type of mental-health treatment shortly before their deaths.
Brig.-Gen. H.C. MacKay’s report also found growing indications that army members are more likely to take their lives than those in the navy or air force, as are soldiers who served on missions overseas, such as in Afghanistan.
The issue of military suicide is “a little more personal for me,” said Sajjan, himself a veteran of the Afghan combat mission. The same is true for another Afghan vet: Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of the defence staff, he added.