About 100 members of the public join veterans at White Rock’s ninth annual walk

The ninth annual Canadian Walk for Veterans drew veterans, veterans’ representatives, volunteers and about 100 members of the public to White Rock’s waterfront Memorial Park on Sept. 27. Former White Rock mayor, MLA and MP Gordon Hogg served as master of ceremonies. He noted that both of his parents served with the RCAF during the Second World War. The Vancouver Navy Veterans Band opened the ceremony with The Maple Leaf Forever, and the Amazing Grace choir led the crowd in O Canada. Members of the Royal Canadian Legion and the Indian Ex-Servicemen Society of B.C. attended. A ceremonial guard trooped the colours, and the IAFF Local 127 (Surrey) Firefighters Pipe and Drum Band played bagpipes and percussion.

South Surrey-White Rock MP Ernie Klassen attended to support veterans and honour their service. Surrey-Panorama MLA Bryan Tepper filled in for Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford, who, like White Rock Mayor Megan Knight, was at a Conservative provincial campaign announcement in North Surrey. Hogg said the event, now organized by the True Patriot Love Foundation, was one of 31 Canadian Walk for Veterans events held across the country that weekend. This year’s theme was “Mental Health: Stronger Together — No-one Heals Alone.” One of the main local sponsors was Sources Community Resources, which recently opened a veterans’ mental health counselling program in Nanaimo.

Hogg said healing happens when people know they have support. He also said the freedoms and opportunities Canadians enjoy are possible because of earlier generations who served, and that generations of veterans created and protected the Canada admired around the world. Sources CEO David MacIntyre said the organization is working to expand its Nanaimo pilot program to other B.C. cities soon.

Walk for Veterans founders Marc Burchell and Dr. Matthew Kane spoke about the often hidden costs of service, including post-traumatic stress disorders among members of the Armed Forces. Burchell said the number of post-conflict suicides among Canadian veterans of the War in Afghanistan exceeds the 158 people who died during the war. Kane held up a portrait of Canadian First World War hero Lt.-Col. Sam Sharpe as Burchell described Sharpe’s military career. Sharpe, an MP from Ontario, was re-elected to Parliament in absentia in 1917 while serving on the Western Front. He formed the 116th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force from volunteers in his riding and served with distinction at Vimy Ridge, Avion and Passchendaele. He received the D.S.O. in the 1918 New Year Honours.

Burchell said Sharpe also suffered from “shell shock,” the term then used for PTSD. At the time, shell shock was treated as tantamount to cowardice and a flaw in character. Sharpe returned to Canada on convalescent leave in May 1918, but, haunted by what he had seen and experienced at the front, jumped to his death from a hospital window later that month. Burchell said stigma around suicide and mental health tarnished Sharpe’s memory, and that silence fell over his death and he was erased from history. Burchell said Sharpe’s reputation has been restored in more understanding recent times, partly through the work of MP Erin O’Toole. In 2016, a bronze plaque bearing Sharpe’s likeness was commissioned for installation in Parliament’s Centre Block.

Proceeds from the 2026 Canadian Walk for Veterans will support True Patriot Love Foundation’s national and community programs, including mental health services, physical rehabilitation and transition support.