"While the Canadian Armed Forces has many excellent programs and services in place to address suicide risk, we can, and must, do better," Sajjan stated. "We are working towards a suicide prevention strategy that will identify areas in which to focus further effort."
The report also suggested that elevated suicide risks appeared to be concentrated among soldiers who have deployed to areas of combat, such as in Afghanistan, as compared with service members who completed tours of duty with relatively safe missions.
A separate report earlier this week noted that suicide rates for Canadian male soldiers during the five-year period ending in 2014 was 23.5 per 100,000, a 24 percent increase from a rate of 19 per 100,000 in the previous five-year period.
