Roméo Dallaire and his wife met with government officials and visited front-line communities and rehabilitation centres in hopes of learning how Ukraine plans to handle the social needs of its veterans and their families once the war is over. Dallaire talks with special forces of the 18th brigade of the National Guard who just came back from the front line for a few days rest.Robert Van Voren/Supplied
Roméo Dallaire, a retired lieutenant-general known for his mental-health advocacy, says Canadian expertise could help Ukrainian veterans and their families with the psychological wounds inflicted by Russia’s continuing war in their country.
Mr. Dallaire led the United Nations peacekeeping mission during the genocide in Rwanda, and has been vocal about his own struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. He visited Ukraine in October with his wife, Marie-Claude Michaud, formerly the executive director of the Valcartier Military Family Resource Centre in Quebec. They were in Ukraine at the invitation of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry, a non-governmental organization, and Fairfax Financial, a Toronto-based conglomerate with Ukrainian holdings.
They met with government officials and visited front-line communities and rehabilitation centres in hopes of learning how Ukraine plans to handle the social needs of its veterans and their families once the war is over. In an interview, they said the country does not yet have a system and strategy in place for addressing those needs. They added that they are hoping the Canadian government will step up with funding and help lead the effort.
Roméo Dallaire signs his book, which explores his continuing battle with PTSD, for a Ukrainian military during dinner in Oskil near the front line.Robert Van Voren/Supplied
For the past two years, Mr. Dallaire and Ms. Michaud have been involved in supporting Fairfax employees who have been affected by the war. While they were in Ukraine, they spoke at the annual conference of the country’s psychiatric society, where Mr. Dallaire’s book on his continuing battle with PTSD was on hand, translated into Ukrainian.
During their visit to the front lines, Mr. Dallaire said, they took in the destruction and mass graves, and saw how volunteers are recovering bodies from the battlefield.
“When this war ends, you’re going to have a million-plus veterans who have been significantly affected by a war that is really a World War I level,” Mr. Dallaire said. “I couldn’t believe it. And their families, which can amount to easily four or five million people.”
If veterans don’t get the support they need, he said, they will be psychologically affected by the horrors of what they have witnessed and will look for ways to cope.
While some local commanders want to help, he said, there is shame associated with mental illness that prevents many people from talking about it. Mr. Dallaire has been open about his own problems after serving in Rwanda, including multiple suicide attempts.
“There is, even within the military, a very strong stigma against those who say that they are hurting between the ears,” he said.
Troops, he added, may not be aware of their psychological wounds during war, because they don’t have time to process the horrors.
During their visit to the front lines, Mr. Dallaire said, they took in the destruction and mass graves, and saw how volunteers are recovering bodies from the battlefield.Robert Van Voren/Supplied
“When the war ends and the adrenaline is disappearing and when the urgency is disappearing, that’s when your casualty levels will double or triple, because all those things will be given the opportunity of coming to the fore.”
John Babcock, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, said the mental health of veterans in Ukraine is a priority issue for Canada, and the federal government funds a number of projects that support mental health, including for veterans.
Ms. Michaud is now a member of the international advisory board to the Veteran Mental Health Centre of Excellence at Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv.
“There’s nothing to support military families,” she said. She added that there are some initiatives by non-governmental organizations, but nothing is co-ordinated.
Not having a solid system in place could destabilize Ukrainian society after the war, she said.
Thirty-five years ago in Canada, she noted, there were no services for military families, apart from local initiatives. In 1989, the federal government conducted a national survey and decided to implement military family resource centres, which now provide those services across Canada.
Ms. Michaud said it’s important that a survey is conducted in Ukraine, and that she will work with authorities and non-governmental organizations there to help them develop a program based on their specific needs.
Mr. Dallaire said when he went public with his post-traumatic stress disorder decades ago there was nothing to help him. He and Ms. Michaud have spent their lives building resources for veterans in Canada.
When they saw what was happening in Ukraine, they explained, they wanted to help.
“I think it’s in our blood,” Ms. Michaud said.