Mother of Canadian soldier who killed himself agrees inquiry can see suicide video

It's one thing for a mother to have to relive her son's suicide at a public inquiry. Quite another to allow images of his hanging corpse to be replayed on video in front of strangers.

That's the decision Sheila Fynes made when she consented to let a hearing into her son Stuart's suicide see a 34-minute recording made by investigators after his body was discovered hanging in his room.

"There are times when I think I've shared the most personal thing about Stuart's life and I hope … I hope it wasn't for nothing," Fynes told The Canadian Press.

Cpl. Stuart Langridge, 28, hanged himself from his chin-up bar in his barracks room at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton on March 15, 2008.

The Military Police Complaints Commission is conducting an inquiry into how the armed forces handled the Langridge case, as well as how it deals with soldiers suffering from mental illness and post-traumatic stress, CP reported.

Sheila Fynes and Stuart's stepfather, Shaun Fynes, wrestled with the question of showing the video almost until the day it was played, she said.

"At first, we said: No, we don't want anybody ever to see that," she said.

"But then [after] discussions with our lawyer [and] between ourselves, we decided there would be no better way for the chair to understand our allegation of the total disrespect shown to Stuart in his death, than for him to see it.

"Was it the right decision? It keeps me awake at night."

The couple was not present when the video was shown.

Her son's body was left hanging in place for four hours while investigators documented the scene and searched the room. The video sometimes zoomed in on his head and face, CP said.

[ Related: Suicides are surging among U.S. troops ]

The hearing, which resumes Wednesday, has already been the source of controversy because Defence Minister Peter MacKay refused to hand over some internal documents related to the case to the commission, CP reported.

The Defence Department disputes the claim Langridge, a veteran of Bosnia and Afghanistan, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. His family alleges the military's National Investigative Service's probe was inadequate, biased and aimed at clearing the forces of culpability in Langridge's death, CP said.

The commission has heard Langridge was a troubled young man, addicted to alcohol and cocaine. One expert witness traced his problems to Sheila Fynes' divorce from his father.

It also heard evidence of military bungling, including withholding Langridge's suicide note from the family for 14 months, and conflicting testimony about whether he was on a suicide watch before his death.

The National Post reported last May that as the rate of suicides among Canadian soldiers rises, National Defence has cut jobs of medical professionals working in suicide prevention and monitoring post-traumatic stress, part of the Conservative government's budget-cutting program.

The Toronto Star reported the rate in 2011 was higher than at any time since the mid-1990s. A total of 20 Canadian Forces personnel committed suicide in 2011, compared with 12 the previous year.