Scathing suicide inquiry finds gaps, shortcomings at Royal Military College

Members of a board of inquiry into three suicides at the Royal Military College of Canada have reported facing troubling delays and obstacles in obtaining key information and evidence during their nearly year-long internal investigation.

A censored copy of the board of inquiry's final report was provided to reporters this week and confirmed that officer cadets Harrison Kelertas, Brett Cameron and Matthew Sullivan took their own lives in separate incidents in 2016.

The scathing report also uncovered numerous gaps, shortcomings and worrying practices at the 142-year-old college in Kingston, Ont., where future generations of military officers are groomed, when it came to suicide prevention.

Those included the use of "suicide watches" with other students even though studies showed such watches raised the risk of suicide among the watchers and had been previously flagged as a concern by the military's medical branch.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, the military's chief of personnel acknowledged that there were shortcomings at the university and said senior commanders were committed to fixing them as quickly as possible.

But Lt.-Gen. Charles Lamarre rejected suggestions that officials at the college in Kingston, Ont., could have done more earlier to keep Kelertas, Cameron or Sullivan from taking their own lives.