Weekly recap - Canadian Forces military justice

In light of the fairly rapidly evolving news cycle concerning military justice issues in the Canadian Forces, there is merit to a weekly recap of developments.  And, notwithstanding that this week-end in Canada is the 'Victoria Day Long Week-end' (colloquially referred to as the 'May 2-4' because it is celebrated on the last Monday preceding the 25th of May in light of Queen Victoria's birth date of 24 May 1819), your loyal servant will endeavour to provided a brief recap.

The news cycle was dominated by reporting and speculation regarding Major-General (MGen) Dany Fortin who, until 14 May 2021, was functioning as the Vice President Logistics and Operations of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) leading the effort to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to Canada's provinces so that they could be administered to Canadians and residents of Canada.  By all accounts, he was performing that role well.

It has surfaced that allegations were raised in March of this year relating to alleged misconduct that dates from 32 years ago, when MGen Fortin was an Officer Cadet (OCdt) attending Collège Militaire Royal at St-Jen, Québec.  Initially, reports were that the allegations pre-dated 2015, when MGen Fortin was first promoted to General Officer and also when the now-cancelled Op HONOUR was launched by (then) Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), General Jonathan Vance.  As the days progressed, select details were 'leaked' to the news media that the allegations were much older.  In light of the passage of time, several jurisdictional concerns have arisen, and your loyal servant has provided an analysis of those issues here.

CTV news broke the story on 14 May 2021: Sarah Turnbull, "Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin no longer leading vaccine campaign pending military investigation", (14 May 2021), Online: CTV News.

Indeed, as CTV News later reported, although MGen Fortin was aware, generally, that he was the subject of an investigation, he was not aware of the specific allegations.  He did not learn those details from the Acting Chief of the Defence Staff (A/CDS), Lieutenant-General (LGen) Wayne Eyre.  According to Commander Marc Letourneau, a military lawyer from Defence Counsel Services assigned to represent him, MGen Fortin was not aware of the allegations until CTV News contacted him.  MGen Fortin denies any wrong-doing.

Most news reports indicate that MGen Fortin 'stepped down' from his position with the PHAC, following a meeting with the A/CDS.  Whether he voluntarily 'stepped down' or was directed to do so is open to speculation.

It appears that the Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence, and the Head of the PHAC were briefed on the allegations well before mid-May, and perhaps as early as March.  No one from the Canadian Forces or the Department of National Defence have indicated why this information is only being made public now, or why it was not until mid-May that MGen Fortin 'stepped down' from his role.  However, it does appear to coincide with the decision by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) to refer their investigation to Québec's Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DCPP) due to jurisdictional concerns.

Some people have started to question the timing of the announcement and why a decision to replace MGen Fortin was only made in mid-May rather than in March, when the allegations were first raised.  Some have questioned why it was necessary to replace MGen Fortin, who, for all intents, was performing his role well, based upon as-yet-unproven allegations dating from 32 years ago.

Robyn Urback of the Globe and Mail wrote a thought-provoking opinion piece for this week-end's edition of that newspaper: Robyn Urback, "Canadians should know the specifics of why Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin is off the job", (22 May 2021), online: Globe and Mail.

There will, undoubtedly, be more to come on this matter once the May 2-4 barbecues have cooled.