Remembrance Day doesn’t only commemorate past military personnel and veterans, but also ones currently serving.
Located on a quiet street in New Westminster's Queens Park is the Honour House Society, a place for Canadian Armed Forces, veterans, emergency service workers and their families to stay for free while receiving medical care and treatment in the Lower Mainland, including those from the North Shore.
The society has helped provide “a home away from home” to hundreds of people since they opened their doors nearly 14 years ago in November of 2010.
“Around Remembrance Day, people remember that we’re here to support our folks in uniform, our military, air force and veterans,” said Craig Longstaff, executive director for Honour House Society.
But it can be difficult at this time of year for military and veterans, Longstaff says, as they are re-remembering the lives that were lost, sometimes people close to them.
“We try and give people here at the house a bit of space and peace, and just let them do their thing, and leave them to their own devices here around that time,” Longstaff said. “It can be a bit tough on them.”
The Honour House is comprised of 11 bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, and people can stay at the house for up to two weeks, or longer if an application is approved. It also has many other common spaces, such as a living room, sun rooms and a shared kitchen.
To be able to stay at the Honour House, a military or emergency service worker must complete a referral form and get it signed by a referring agent like a supervisor, a Royal Canadian Legion executive member or a Veterans Affairs manager if a veteran. Applicants also need to provide a doctor’s note or email from a medical facility that confirms dates of medical treatment appointments.
Once submitted, the referral is reviewed, and an Honour House staff member will let the person know if they have been approved.
In 2019 the society also launched Honour Ranch in Ashcroft, B.C., a facility that provides workers a place for treatment of operational stress injuries like PTSD, anxiety and depression to better navigate the pressures from their service.
“It was mainly because we get so many phone calls here from people struggling with [PTSD] and operational stress injuries that we knew we needed to open a second facility,” Longstaff said.
The ranch offers a place for education and growth, providing different therapies ranging from group art therapy and the “hot and cold” treatment to clinical and physical therapists.
Veterans living in Canada experience higher rates of depression, anxiety and substance use disorder than the civilian population, with one in seven living with PTSD, according to a study in the Journal of traumatic Stress.
The Honour House Society relies solely on donations and fundraising to fund their operations and are one of the few organizations in Canada to offer this kind of support.
Now offering support to North Shore Rescue
Longstaff emphasized that it’s not just military and veterans using these services, but also emergency staff like firefighters, police officers and search and rescue crew.
Honour House is now offering further support to North Shore Rescue on the society’s ranch to help the volunteers who save lives every day.
“I feel they definitely need our support,” Longstaff said. “They literally save people’s lives week after week.”
Longstaff said they could use the ranch and stay there for around three days a week to put on their own mental health program, whether it be resiliency or trauma prevention.
North Shore Rescue isn’t like typical rescue units, Longstaff says, as they are comprised of skilled volunteers. Approximately 50 volunteers make up the team and perform around 130 search and rescue operations annually, with some lasting multiple days.
“It’s not just folks that are deployed to war zones,” Longstaff said. “It’s people here on our streets dealing with all the difficult things. If you’ve experienced anything traumatic in your life, you know how much it affects you.”
The Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) found between 10 to 33 per cent of search and rescue volunteers surveyed reported “severe enough symptoms to qualify for immediate mental health referrals.” The survey also found that 25.5 per cent of those surveyed reported intrusive experiences and 26 per cent of search and rescue crew face some level of burnout.
“So having supports available to these folks and giving them some support to make sure they can continue doing what they do best, which is looking after us,” Longstaff said.
As Remembrance Day approaches, the Honour House Society travels to cenotaphs across the Lower Mainland to lay wreaths and pay respect to those who served our country, Longstaff said.
The Honour House receives support from many Royal Canadian Legion branches and receive donations through the Poppy Fund. They also hold their own fundraisers.
Their Wildest Dreams Raffle is raising money for men and women in uniform, with the winner receiving a pair of floor seats tickets to Taylor Swift’s concert at BC Place in December. The deadline to donate is Nov. 13, and the winner will be announced Nov. 15 at 1 p.m.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. [email protected]
