Rucksack March for Remembrance

Our 2024 Integrity Award recipient, Ian Hall, is an ambassador for Wounded Warriors Canada. He organizes the annual event "Rucksack March for Remembrance". The Rucksack March for Remembrance was established to bring people from the community together with one mission in mind. This mission is to raise awareness and funding for the many Canadian military and first responder families who are fighting their own service-related battles day to day. Every year, we lose too many dedicated soldiers, officers, firefighters and paramedics to illness, injury and suicide. These struggles continue to impact families and communities nationwide and we wanted to do our part to serve those who need our help the most.

Participants of the event can do the 5 km Family Walk; the 11 km Ruck or the 22 km Ruck. We would love to have a group of club members, their family and friends come out and support this very worthy cause.

What is it all About?

The annual Rucksack March for Remembrance is slated for Saturday October 19, with the goal of raising $35,000 for Wounded Warriors Canada, a national charity supporting ill and injured Canadian Armed Forces members, veterans, first responders and their families. The starting point is Rundle Family Centre at 2903 - 113 Avenue NW. Registration begins at 9:00 am.

Participants are encouraged, but not obligated, to carry a 22-kilogram weighted rucksack. The number 22 refers to a study from the United States that found on average, 22 veterans die by suicide daily.

Organizer Ian Hall, a current Edmonton firefighter who formerly served in the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, said the mental health of military members and first responders continues to have a stigma around it.

“Here in Canada, the stats aren’t tracked that well, but a study from Veterans Affairs found that military members kind of across the board had a 50 per cent increase in suicide than their respective age and gender counterparts,” Hall said.

“One of the things we want to do is just bring attention to what the numbers are.” Raising awareness, Hall said, means mental health concerns don’t need to be the legacy of the military and first responder community.

Funding raised by the Rucksack March for Remembrance supports Wounded Warriors programs, such as the Before Operational Stress (BOS) program.

“It’s a program designed to be given to people early in their careers to give some insight and education around post-traumatic stress, your brain and how the two interact, why some negative coping mechanisms are like alcoholism, drug abuse, self-destructive behaviours, how they temporarily help your brain but they don’t help in the long term,” Hall said.

The program encourages access to counselling early on so if an individual needs help they already have a practitioner they are comfortable with.

Funding also supports the Warrior Kids program, which helps children of first responders and veterans who have occupational stress understand what it is and its impacts.

“The kids can go to that camp and kind of get an idea of what their parent is going through, why their parent is kind of acting and behaving the way they’re acting and then learn some tools for themselves,” Hall said. “The other great thing is now you’re exposing children as young as eight to mental health coping mechanisms (and) strategies for identifying behaviours.”

To register for the event you can sign up on clubrunner or on the Wounded Warrior website:  https://ruckforremembrance.ca/

Cheers,

Annie