A mental health crisis has erupted at the Petawawa military base, where children are "on the brink of suicide," Ontario's ombudsman said Friday as he released a damning report on the state of Canada's military children.

In anticipation of the report's release, the Ontario government has already pledged $2 million to help tackle the problems at CFB Petawawa, near Ottawa, Ombudsman André Marin said.

Ombudsman André Marin told reporters in Ottawa Friday that children from Petawawa hate being called to the principal's office because they're afraid they'll be told a parent has died in Afghanistan.

"In Petawawa there is a real crisis," Marin told reporters in Ottawa. "Children are on the brink of committing suicide. It's serious stuff."

He said children at the base are coping with particularly devastating losses — 20 Petawawa soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in total, 16 of them killed since last summer. Another 80 Petawawa soldiers have been injured in Afghanistan battles.

Marin said while conducting his investigation, which began March 1, he met children who admit they hate to be called to the principal's office at their school because they are afraid they will be told their mother or father has been killed overseas.

Others hide in their homes with the lights off, so that they can't be found if a military official comes to tell them their parents are dead.

The fear is taking a toll, Marin said. Children living on the base are coping with attention deficit disorder, low self-esteem and suicidal tendencies, he said. Most are forced to wait four to six months for mental health treatment, while some wait as long as a year.

Marin said he has issued three recommendations to the Ontario government, and Premier Dalton McGuinty has already agreed to act on them. Marin wants Ontario to:

• Immediately fund children's mental health services at the Phoenix Centre, the only mental health unit that treats Petawawa children.
• Ensure long-term mental health support for the children of military personnel, in consultation with the federal government.
• Provide the Ontario ombudsman's office with monthly progress reports.

Marin said he is pleased the Ontario government has already promised to create a $2 million emergency contingency plan to battle the problem. The federal government has promised $100,000.

Marin 'disappointed' by Ontario's initial response

Still, Marin said Ontario initially resisted helping, saying its health system was overstrained and questioning why military children should be treated differently from other children. He said the provincial government also wondered why it should pay for the crisis, when it's the federal government that is sending the soldiers to war.

"I was frankly disappointed by the response and entrenchment of the provincial government," Marin said.

He said last fall, the Phoenix Centre asked for $536,250 over a two-year period to handle its patient load, which has increased tenfold, but Ontario's Ministry of Children and Youth Services initially refused.

Federal government has 'moral' duty to help: Marin

Marin did not let the federal government off the hook, either.

The provincial and federal governments need to work together to solve the crisis, he said.

The provincial government might be technically responsible for the children's mental health in Ontario, but the federal government has a moral responsibility since its Afghanistan mission is at the root of the problems, he said.

"The federal government has a moral responsibility to ask the province, 'Can we help with this?'" Marin said.

It's also in the federal government's best interests to help, Marin argued, since the mental health crisis at home affects the morale of soldiers overseas. If soldiers feel their families are not being cared for, they will not be able to perform as well, he said.

It would take as little as $230,000 a year to hire more staff for the Phoenix Centre and improve the mental health situation at Petawawa, Marin said.

He said it's his understanding that the $100,000 in federal money, which was promised recently, will go towards that $230,000, while the provincial government has said it will make up the rest.

The money is supposed to come as soon as possible, he said.