Canadian Prairie News : OPINION 06/12/2018; Disappointment With Westman Media, The Brandon Community, and Veterans' Affairs Canada
Today was not particularly a bad day, but it is ending on a bad note for me. The topic about suicide came up on a Facebook page I was following in the Westman area, and it sparked first what I assumed was some thought provoking insights on suicide awareness and prevention, but then ended up being a display of both victim and virtue-signalling from the director of a small local Facebook media site. I myself became quite upset at this director, and made some of my own errors in judgment as a result. I have been through hell and back these last 5 years myself, and I believed I have both insights on the matter, and an anecdote to share myself in an effort to raise awareness to the veterans' suicide epidemic now sweeping Canada. I still believe I can offer critical insights, but did I ever misjudge the Brandon community in this regard.
It seems the Brandon and Area community only shares their insights when a beloved celebrity or media personality takes their own lives. It is the same tired virtue-signalling from the same sophistic and ignorant crowd every single time it seems. Suicidal thoughts are looked at as weakness, but everyone has all the sympathy for strangers, so long as they are famous. This new age hypocrisy has thoroughly consumed the Brandon Area, and it is repulsive IMO. The director I implied was at least in agreement in this regard, but that's really about it.
Things progressively went south with this director when I began to interact with them for a small, independent, but public media agency in the Brandon Area. There was a minor misunderstanding on their part which escalated into a repulsive display of victim-signalling, and outright hypocrisy on their part.
Firstly, they brought a personal ten year old anecdote about 'beyond helpful' assistance from Veteran's Affairs Canada (VAC) in regards to a very personal tragedy that forever changed this director's life. I made repeated efforts to bluntly, but politely correct them to the current faltering status of VAC, and the federal government's negligence. Two of my messages with links to a CTV article pointing out the negligence of VAC dating back to 2013 in reference to the suicide of a former colleague of mine, MCpl Will Elliott were hidden from public view somehow. I did not block my own messages, the director denied any involvement here, but I had been able to post links on their message threads before, and I highly doubt Facebook would go that far out of their way to censor a small independent like this Brandon Area media site. It could have been a simple mistake after all; Who knows?...
I made the mistake of allowing my anger to root a bit, and I mistakenly filed an email complaint to the very same director. I misread the name, and it only became clear to me after I watched the YouTube video on the original message a second time. This led to a heated exchange of personal messages where the director displayed shocking amounts of personal bias, victim signalling, and then outright hypocrisy when the whole idea was to bring awareness. I was left being told to simply deal with it. Well I have been dealing with it; Largely by myself for five bloody years!
In summary, I assumed this would be a good time to cooperate with a local media agency to bring awareness to the critical negligence of our veterans. Also this public news site was all of a sudden a private entity, so objectivity was no longer a requirement. That is not how media or the internet works typically, and I personally go out of my way to remain politically unbiased and objective unless I am shitposting or screwing around, and I most certainly was not this time. I take suicide very seriously, as I faced my own demons in this regard, and am personally advocating for two preventable suicides; Those of MCpl Will Elliott, and Sgt Jesse Tait. Articles linked at the bottom.
Since about 2008, VAC has been on a dramatic decline in the services they are prepared to offer, and in my own personal experience, there seems to be a strong lack of psychological competence from individual VAC agents, and an increasing lack of resources available for veterans. I strongly believe many of the tragic cases of veteran suicides could have been prevented. Many things were overlooked, ignored, and even swept under the rug. There are dozens, if not more veterans all over Canada whom have had to fight bitterly against an agency we were all taught to rely upon. There have been cases where amputees had to annually prove they are still disabled, wait up to 3 years for care, have their families destroyed by provincial CFS/CPS agencies where they treated veterans like second-class citizens, and it is all unnecessary and preventable IMO.
Now for something a bit more personal. I will make my best effort to keep this as objective as I can.
Staring about five years ago, I was also left in a typical weakened mental state of heavy drug use and criminal activity, but was fortunate enough to not be caught by law enforcement. I lost employment, had to endure infidelity and physical abuse from my ex, became seriously sick due to stress, been taken advantage by former friends, and even been patronised and betrayed by my own immediate family and in-laws.
I had numerous mental breakdowns where I destroyed property and the very clothing I was wearing at times, numerous episodes of suicidal thoughts, and finally a psychotic episode where I plotted the most sinister and heinous deeds of vengeance, murder, and even a high-profile assassination attempt. Thankfully the chips fell in a way where none of the latter came to pass, but only by dumb luck. I share this part, because I was an armed, and extremely dangerous mental case for about 3 weeks back in 2016, and I could have easily been another case of murder-suicide if a quarter I flipped on one fateful day in November 2016, landed on the other face.
After I calmed down somewhat, I personally wrote letters to both the provincial and federal governments, sought help from VAC, and provincial mental health agencies, and was ultimately forced to take an adversarial route which finally worked. I eschewed formal care for holistic care, was able to quit all illicit drug activity, avoid being committed to a mental institution, and even avoided being prescribed heavy psychotropics. It came at a heavy price though. I have been let down by nearly everyone close to me, including family, and regretfully burned a lot of bridges while I was at my peak of suicidal and homicidal thoughts. I came out of it with a lot of wisdom, but I am forever changed. I am now trying to piece myself together as best as I can, but depression never really goes away.
It is one thing to provoke the everyday person to personal tragedy, but veterans, particularly in the combat arms trades, are trained, and if pushed too far off the deep end, things can get not just tragic, but it can provoke an episode of terrible carnage. This is not an area where VAC or any agency should be dropping the ball. My personal anecdote here is not mere victim-signalling. I am only here today, and some of my perceived tormentors still live today, because of a lucky coin flip.
News References:
https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/father-in-law-of-soldier-who-committed-suicide-says-calls-for-help-ignored-1.1576867
http://www.thesudburystar.com/2015/01/31/gallery-tait-funeral
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/nova-scotia-launches-inquiry-into-veterans-triple-murder-suicide/article37441165/
https://globalnews.ca/news/2632143/ottawa-makes-it-cumbersome-to-prove-disability-edmonton-veteran/
#mentalhealth #news #Canadian #veterans #veteransaffairs #media