OTTAWA – Defence Minister Rob Nicholson calls the apparent suicides of two Afghan veterans very troubling, but says the government has increased mental health support to soldiers.
The RCMP are investigating the death Tuesday of soldier at a home just outside Canadian Forces Base Shilo in Manitoba.
Authorities in Alberta are examining the death of a reservist who was found in distress at a correctional centre in Lethbridge and died in hospital on Monday.
Both cases are suspected suicides and Nicholson said nobody wants to see anything like this.
Nicholson is looking for reports and advice from the military about what the next step might be, he said.
But NDP defence critic Jack Harris said the country is failing its wounded soldiers and pointed to a backlog of 50 incomplete military inquiries into the suicides of members since 2008.
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