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Member of Parliament

Randall Garrison

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • NDP
  • Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke
  • British Columbia
  • Voting Attendance: 67%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $148,586.11

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 145 - Dec/9/22
Mr. Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, NDP)
  • Dec/9/22 11:28:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, every single month we lose a member of the Canadian Forces to death by suicide. Clearly, more needs to be done to prevent these tragic losses for the forces and for the families. One of the barriers to serving members getting the mental health supports they need is the fact that self-harm remains a disciplinary offence under the military code of conduct. For more than six years, the families have been asking this government to act. Will the Minister of National Defence support my proposal to remove self-harm as a disciplinary offence so that serving members can get the mental health supports they need and deserve?
110 words
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Context: House Hansard - 12 - Dec/7/21
Mr. Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, NDP)
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-206, An Act to amend the National Defence Act (maiming or injuring self or another). He said: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill that I had hoped would be adopted in the 42nd Parliament and again in the 43rd. This bill would remove a significant barrier for members of the Canadian Armed Forces needing mental health assistance. We need to remove section 98(c), the archaic section of the National Defence Act that makes self-harm a disciplinary offence under the military code of conduct. This means that those who risk their lives for this country can end up subject to disciplinary action as a result of suffering a mental health crisis. Often this means our troops suffer in silence. Canada is still losing more than one serving member each month to death by suicide. Removing self-harm as a disciplinary offence would mark a significant change in the way mental health challenges are addressed within the Canadian Armed Forces. The Liberals had a chance to fix this when they amended the military justice act in the 42nd Parliament. In the last Parliament, the defence committee studied how to improve mental health services in the Canadian Armed Forces, and I believe the government would have had all-party support to proceed at that time. Both these opportunities were lost, and as a result we continue to lose dedicated women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces to self-harm. Today, I am reintroducing the bill in the hope that the House will finally listen to the families who have lost loved ones to death by suicide and come together to address this challenge by adopting this bill and taking other necessary measures to make sure we provide our troops with the mental health support they need.
306 words
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