By Scott Taylor
What a difference two weeks can make in the cut-throat world of Ottawa politics. On 14 January General Jonathan Vance officially stepped down as Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff and handed the reins to Admiral Art McDonald. Vance capped off a 38-year military career with a five-plus year tenure as top soldier, the longest CDS stint in Canadian history.
Immediately upon assuming the CDS post in 2015, Vance stood up Operation Honour, an initiative aimed at wiping out rampant sexual misconduct in the ranks.
The genesis for Op Honour dates back to 2013 when there had been a damning string of sexual misconduct incidents reported in the media. In a damage control exercise the Department of National Defence commissioned an independent inquiry headed by former Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps.
After a thorough investigation, Deschamps tabled her report which depicted the CAF to be steeped in a highly masculine sexualized culture, wherein military leaders turned a blind eye to misconducts.
It was in response to the Deschamp’s findings that newly minted CDS Vance launched his two pronged assault on the problem. In addition to clamping down on the perpetrators, Op Honour was to simultaneously establish a support network for the victims.
Despite the tough talking rhetoric Vance’s vaunted Op Honour made nary a dent in the military’s existing culture.
As a result, last November Vance launched a second initiative to confront what senior brass still referred to as a ‘wicked problem’ of sexual misconduct in the ranks.
This most recent plan is called ‘The Path Towards Dignity and Respect.’ In his written foreword to this plan, Vance admitted “There are no quick fixes for achieving culture change. It requires sustained effort and continual assessment to ensure we remain on track.”
Vance echoed those same sentiments in a lengthy pre-retirement television interview with Global National’s Mercedes Stephenson.
Keen eyed readers who closely follow the Canadian defence sector will recall that it was Stephenson, then working at CTV, who first announced unofficially that Vance would replace outgoing CDS General Tom Lawson back in 2015. It would be more than six weeks before Vance’s appointment was indeed made ‘official.’
Acknowledging what has been a long, close working association Vance closed out his interview by thanking Stephenson for “covering the Canadian Forces so faithfully.”
Thus it came as somewhat of a shock on 2 February when Stephenson dropped the bombshell that Vance himself – the architect behind Op Honour – was being accused of having inappropriate relations with lower ranked female military staff.
Stephenson’s initial story was that Vance had an ongoing relationship with a subordinate dating back to 2001, which continued through his tenure as CDS until January 2021.
Another allegation was that in 2012, Vance, then a Major-General had been asked by a female corporal for some career advice. A reply from Vance’s email address allegedly proposed that the corporal join him on a clothing optional beach vacation.
The Global National scoop was soon picked up by all the mainstream media and the revelations set off a chain reaction.
Within hours of the story breaking it was announced that the military police were opening an investigation into Vance’s alleged actions, and with uncharacteristic institutional speed, CDS Art McDonald stated that the CAF will initiate a separate independent investigation.
What was shocking about this whole affair was that it turned out not to be a shock for the senior political leadership.
It turns out that the second allegation was brought to the attention of the Canadian Forces Ombudsman who in turn notified Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan in 2018.
Although Sajjan was admittedly ‘concerned’ enough to inform the Privy Council Office (PCO), those concerns did not result in any concrete actions being taken.
So while he was CDS and the public face of Op Honour, Vance was given a free pass by Canada’s political leadership on allegations regarding his own relations with female military staff. The minute he steps out of his uniform everyone cannot wait to be seen taking actions against him.
I’m not suggesting in any way that Vance should be let off the hook if there is any truth to the allegations, but it would seem the problem goes even higher than him.
