'It takes a toll on you': Metis veteran using Indigenous practices to cope with PTSD
One Metis Veteran used his Indigenous culture to help him cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from his time serving with the Canadian Armed Forces.
Clinton Digness was inspired to join the army after seeing photos and hearing stories of his family members fighting in the Battle of Batoche, World War I and World War II.
"The army gave me sense of belonging and acceptance and honour and I carry that with me to this day,” Digness said in an interview.
In 1993, he became a seventh generation Metis Veteran when he returned from the Canadian Peace Keeping Mission in Somalia.
“It takes a toll on you and you have to be strong mentally, emotionally, physical and spiritually to get through that,” he said.
The Tisdale man remembered his Uncle Fred used traditional Indigenous practices to help cope with the traumas from the First World War. Once Digness tried it himself, he found healing through powwows and ceremonies.
According to one historian, many Indigenous Veterans became closer to their heritage after WWI.
"These guys were absolutely warriors. They brought a lot of those practices and traditions overseas with them in the trenches and the guys who came home, they came home with a much more powerful bond to those practices,” Cole Nolan, who studies Indigenous veterans with the Garden River First Nation in Northern Ontario, said in an interview.
Nolan said for many veterans, that sense of culture was gone soon after they returned home, in some cases even losing their Indian Status.
Digness said reconnecting with his Indigenous identity has been crucial in the recovery process.
"I think having a strong cultural identity and having your community to come back to is all key and is all very important,” he said.
He plans to get his masters in social work and help others cope with their trauma in the same way he did.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
WATCH LIVE As former prime minister Mulroney lies in state, public tributes in Ottawa begin
Members of the public who wish to pay tribute to Brian Mulroney can visit his casket in Ottawa starting this afternoon.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Images taken deep inside melted Fukushima reactor show damage, but leave many questions unanswered
Images taken by miniature drones from deep inside a badly damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant show displaced control equipment and misshapen materials but leave many questions unanswered, underscoring the daunting task of decommissioning the plant.
DEVELOPING February inflation rate slows to 2.8% as price growth unexpectedly eases
Canada's annual inflation rate unexpectedly fell to 2.8 per cent last month, amid sharp declines in cellular and internet services as well as slower grocery price growth.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.