Quebec's coroner is investigating the death of a Canadian soldier who returned home an amputee last December from the battlefront in Afghanistan.
Pte. Frederic Couture of the Royal 22nd Regiment appears to have committed suicide earlier this week. He was found at his family home in Roxton Pond, Que., southeast of Montreal.
Couture was 21 when he was injured by a landmine while on patrol in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province in December 2006.
In media interviews, Couture put on a brave front, telling TVA network his morale was good despite the injury that required part of his leg be amputated.
"It's war over there," he said. "I was injured and that's part of the risk of my job."
Couture's best friend told TVA that the soldier insisted he was fine and was even looking forward to going back to his job at CFB Val Cartier.
But retired soldier Georges Dumont told CTV News that, according to Couture's mother, the private had turned down offers of counselling to help him deal with trauma of war.
"He wasn't getting any help because he wasn't admitting that he was having a problem," Dumont said.
The military says it was in regular contact with Couture and his family, but for privacy reasons, wouldn't say what exactly the communication entailed.
Heritage Minister Josee Verner offered her condolences on Friday to Couture's family. Speaking in Quebec City, Verner said the Canadian military offers all possible support to soldiers returning from Afghanistan.
Ottawa also announced new funding for a clinic in Quebec to help soldiers living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
With so many Canadians now deployed in the dangerous war zone of southern Afghanistan, some PTSD experts say this is just the beginning.
Former soldier Rob Tyler, now a psychotherapist who counsels those returning from Afghanistan, says there aren't enough resources to help these soldiers and many don't seek help at all.
"Many members will, in fact, try not to display the symptoms because it may not be a career builder," Tyler told CTV News.
According to a recent survey of returned soldiers, about 28 per cent of the 2,700 who've served in Afghanistan suffer from a range of mental-health problems.
Of those, about five per cent showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and another five per cent suffer major depression, according to data compiled by Dr. Mark Zamorski, head of the military's deployment health section.
Last year, retired peacekeeper Michel Dejardin spoke with CTV News about his PTSD -- and his reluctance to seek help after being deployed in Gaza 15 years ago. There, he said he lived through many horrors, including cradling a child injured by gunfire and then being ordered to abandon him.
For years, he said he tried to deal with his pain alone. "The culture is that men don't cry," he said.
By the time he finally sought help it was too late. Dejardin committed suicide two months ago.
With a report from CTV's Jed Kahane in Montreal
