Rucksack march raises funds to help veterans and first responders
With Remembrance Day less than a week away, a charity walk Sunday honoured the physical and mental aspects of what soldiers and first responders go through in the line of duty.
The fifth annual 22-kilometre Rucksack March for Remembrance at Rundle Park helps raise awareness and funds for Wounded Warriors Canada — a non-profit mental health provider for first responders, veterans and their families.
An organizer chose that distance and the weight each participant held in their backpack after learning of a 2015 study stating 22 U.S. veterans commit suicide daily.
"The mental struggle that people are going through, we kinda wanted to make that 22 kilos become like a metaphor, like a physical weight instead of a mental weight that you are carrying," said Ian Hall.
Hall, a current Edmonton firefighter who previously served in the Canadian Armed Forces, said the long walk allows for reflection and forces participants to talk, which is where the starting point for positive mental health starts.
"Your brain will start saying things like, do you need to keep going, do you need to keep walking," Hall added. "That voice, that we all have in the back of our heads, that we don't need to do this, we don't need to keep going, we don't need to continue the struggle."
"If we can prevent people from having occupation stress and post-traumatic stress issues, then obviously, we can decrease the suicides."
"Vets, military members, first responders have chosen to do a job, and they do a job for society," Hall said.
"This is another way to reflect on the unseen deaths from the work they do."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.