Suicide and self-harm are an epidemic within the Canadian Armed Forces. Yet inexplicably, the minister of national defence and the chair of the National Defence Committee have decided to play partisan games with service members’ lives.
The Canadian Armed Forces lose more than one serving member per month to self-harm. A 2017 study by Veterans Affairs Canada found that men in the Canadian Forces under the age of 25 had a 242 per cent higher chance of ending their own lives than their civilian peers. Overall, male veterans have a 36 per cent higher risk of dying by suicide than the male general population, and female veterans have a staggering 81 per cent higher risk of dying by suicide compared with the female general population.
Recently, the Liberal government decided to block an amendment I proposed — and that both the NDP and the Conservatives supported — to Bill C-77 that would remove an archaic provision of the Defence Act that makes self-harm a disciplinary offence. While the military has made efforts to address the mental health of soldiers and veterans over recent years, stigmatization is still prevalent, and keeping self-harm as an offence under the Military Service Code of Conduct prevents members from accessing much-needed mental-health services.
If a service member thinks they might be disciplined because they are having suicidal thoughts or have self-harmed in any way, they will likely not let anyone know before it is too late. Families I have spoken with whose loved ones took their own lives while in the military have cited this as one key obstacle they believe prevented their loved ones from asking for help.
Sheila Fynes, the mother of Cpl. Stuart Langridge who, following deployments to Bosnia and Afghanistan, took his own life in 2008, spoke to the Defence Committee in early November.
“It is disturbing that even today, a service member could face life imprisonment for an attempted suicide,” Fynes told the committee. “It would be more appropriate to consider self-harm under such circumstances as being symptomatic of a serious and urgent mental-health concern, signalling the need for appropriate and immediate medical intervention.
“I would also note that if a Forces member reaches a state of dysphoria where suicide presents as their best option, then the threat of some future discipline holds little deterrence and becomes utterly moot if they succeed.”
Yet even after such compelling testimony, a letter directly from the minister of national defence was circulated to the Standing Committee on National Defence moments before the vote on the amendment was to take place, suggesting Liberal members use procedural tactics to avoid voting on it.
Once again, the Liberal government has ignored an urgent call for action from military personnel, experts and the NDP. The brave men and women who serve our country don’t need another study — they need the Liberal government to remove the provision now. Not all injuries a solider or veteran has are visible, and if passing this amendment and helping to destigmatize self-harm encourages even one person to seek help, and saves a life, then it will have been worth it.
Randall Garrison is the member of Parliament for Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke.
