Cross-Canada veteran mental health tour makes stop at Cochrane Legion

Bob Burton, a 30-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, visited the Cochrane Legion this week as part of his cross-country mission to raise $50,000 for mental health services.

Bob Burton spent almost 30 years in the Canadian Armed Forces. He served tours in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and Haiti, and has seen some awful things. He retired from active service in 2018 and returned home to Nova Scotia.

Since then he’s struggled to fall back into civilian life, and has suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and has felt isolated. He drank to cope. His health became so bad that he nearly went blind and almost fell into a diabetic coma.

One day, Burton decided to commit suicide. He was prepared to go through with it, until one last message from his son backed him off the ledge. “I looked at my phone one last time and saw a text from my youngest son, he said, ‘Dad, you’re worth more than that.’

I thought: Maybe I am,” Burton said, recalling the incident years later. Burton has recovered from those dark moments, and has found healthier ways to deal with his mental health, like going to the gym. But he knew he could do more.

A few months ago, Burton decided to embark on a new mission, one that would serve not only himself, but the thousands of veterans around the country like him. Burton drives an electric vehicle, a sleek looking Kia hatchback. He got in contact with an organization called Vets Canada (Veterans Emergency Transition Services), which supports veterans around the country with mental health resources and housing initiatives.

Burton decided that he would be a new patron for the organization, and would use his car as a mobile billboard for a campaign to raise thousands of dollars for the organization. He got his car wrapped, stem to stern, in a black decal, featuring an imprint of the country on one side, sponsors on another, and a logo for his tour on the hood. His mission is called Solo Veteran EV Journey, and on June 21, Burton’s birthday, he packed up his car with supplies, a mini fridge, and a sliding board fastened in the back that doubles as a bed.

Then he set out across the country. Over the last three weeks he’s traversed from province to province, stopping at Canadian Legion’s in towns and cities in every province he’s been through. And on July 14, Burton and his car stopped at the Cochrane Legion.

“I woke up one morning and I knew my life wasn’t gonna look like this,” Burton said. His family was completely supportive of his cross-country trek. They knew that, once dad had that mission to accomplish, there wasn't anything that was going to stop them.

Burton posts to his social media pages regularly, and shares pictures and clips from his time on the road. He sells handmade keychains and challenge coins, and has a pair of patchwork quilts that he;s looking to sell off to raise money for the campaign. So far, he’s raised $14,000 of the $50,000 that he hopes to collect once the journey is over.

Every dollar of his campaign will go to Vets Canada. “I needed a billboard,” Burton said of his car. “If people see it, it sparks a conversation.”

And it has. Burton said that handfuls of people have approached him in towns across the country to ask what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. Whether those people donate money or not is almost beside the point.

The whole idea of the cross country tour was to help start a conversation that many people are unlikely to start themselves, Burton said. “This isn’t all about veterans,” Burton said. “It’s about all of us...

[the car] has sparked a lot of conversations.” In Ontario, Burton was invited to serve as the pace car for a race. In Winnipeg he was invited to the Polish and Ukrainian Legion and treated as a guest of honour.

Along the way people have offered him all sorts of things, like a night in a spare bedroom, a hot meal, and even helpful corporate sponsorships. One friend of the campaign gave Burton hundreds of Tim Hortons gift cards, which he has handed out to homeless people in cities across the country. “In my mind I’m doing the right thing, I think.”

Burton said. “I don't want for anything, I need for others. One of the more important aspects of the campaign is the conversation dynamic.

Burton’s journey is not unlike that of other veterans. Indeed, Burton’s own brother served tours in Afghanistan and also deeply struggled to return to normal civilian life. To underline his brother's struggles, Burton tells a story: A few years ago his brother tried to commit suicide by lighting himself on fire.

He did, but a 9-1-1 dispatcher was able to get first responders to his residence before he died. Burton’s brother lived, but hasn’t made anywhere near the same level of recovery that Burton himself has. In Burton’s view, and in the view of many veterans, the Canadian government falls very short in supporting those returning from military service.

Cases, like Burton’s brother, fall through the cracks, and the masculine urge to ward off talk of mental health exacerbates the issue. This is why Burton embarked on his cross-country tour, he said. “It’s a journey.

I don’t care anymore about being vulnerable. The message needs to be out there. I’m hoping that maybe someone sees this, maybe my brother sees it...and says, ‘if he can do it, why can’t I?’”

Burton said he still has his dark days. There have been points throughout his journey where he has considered turning the car around and going home. But the good days power him forward.

He understands that for men like him, it’s tough to receive help because he’s not used to asking for it. But he understands that this is all a part of getting better, and if even just a handful of people see him on the road or follow him on Facebook and hear the message that he has to share, maybe they’ll seek the help they need. “This is part of my healing journey, and maybe it can be a part of yours

[too],” he said. Burton will drive to Victoria to stay on Vancouver Island a few days before making the journey home. He’ll drive a different route back east, and is hoping to arrive in Newfoundland in August before returning to Halifax on September 11.

There is perhaps nothing that can stop Burton from continuing with the tour. He said it abides with the “military mentality”, a sense of mission before self. “I’m not a hero,” he said.

“Terry Fox was a hero. I’m just a guy going cross-country in an EV, trying to help people.” Vets Canada services can be checked out at their website: Vetscanada.org.

Bob Burton's Facebook page can be found here.