Remembrance Day for (homeless) veterans
Finally. Canada is starting to recognize the issue of homelessness in the army veteran population. With Remembrance Day just over, it is a perfect time to honour the men and women that protected us but, when coming back home, found themselves lost and without assistance.On november 11, the first-ever Remembrance Day ceremony took place at the Scott Mission in Toronto."We want to ensure that progress continues to be made," emphasized Stogran, Canada's first Veterans Ombudsman. "We will be monitoring the issue of homeless Veterans through our public consultation process, and via outreach and events throughout the country."
I haven't found any statistics about Canada, but the issue has been very documented in the United States. Here is a brief description of the homeless veteran population of the US:
"The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) says the nation's homeless veterans are mostly males (four percent are females). The vast majority are single, most come from poor, disadvantaged communities, 45 percent suffer from mental illness, and half have substance abuse problems. America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Operation Iraqi Freedom, or the military’s anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America. 47 percent of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam Era. More than 67 percent served our country for at least three years and 33 percent were stationed in a war zone.
Although accurate numbers are impossible to come by -- no one keeps national records on homeless veterans -- the VA estimates that 131,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. And approximately twice that many experience homelessness over the course of a year."
Though the causes leading to homelessness are very complex, here they seem pretty obvious. Facing war situations, the "coming home" period for soldiers can become very hard: post traumatic stress, depression, acohol,... Unfortunatly, without a strong support base once back home, it can become impossible to return healthy into civilian life.
Injuries in warfare can be very different. Most of us only see the physical wounds of war but we must not forget that it is inside that our soldiers are often most affected.
Here is a very good page about the homeless veteran issue in the US
Excellent post. I have linked to it on my blog post about awards and heroes.
These are tragedies, indeed. Keep up the good work.
That a shame. They who fight for the freedom and peace for their country, are homeless. Once, I ever heard a wiseman said,"a great nation, is a nation that would appreciate the services of his hero." The veterans is our nation heroes. We must be shame of it. Also, we can't just wait and see until the government do something. This is something more difficult than building a lot of hotels.
Your post was very informative good job! Veterans are our hero's their the reason why we are free today this country would be over run by Nazi's if our veterans didn't fight for our country.
these are our Grandfathers!we should work towards building homes, support groups, shelters, give restuarant vouchers to our Veterans get them in better care, not forgot about them They Deserve our homes and vehicles ect. just for what they did. The world is so crazy these days I cant stand it no more!
Johnny123