ON TARGET: Unanswered Questions Remain about Cyclone Crash

Clockwise from top left: Capt. Kevin Hagen, Sub-Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough, Capt. Brenden Ian MacDonald, Master Cpl. Matthew Cousins, Sub-Lt. Matthew Pyke, Capt. Maxime Miron-Morin. (Department of National Defence)

By Scott Taylor

On June 25, the Royal Canadian Air Force released their final report on the April 29, 2020 CH-148 Cyclone helicopter crash which claimed the lives of six service members.

The investigators concluded that the auto-pilot system had engaged while the pilot was making a tight turn, causing the helicopter to plunge straight into the Ionian Sea. The report notes that neither the pilot’s training nor the cockpit indicators would have given any warning that the auto-pilot was about to over-ride the flight controls. It was also noted that during the certification testing of the Cyclone this potentially dangerous hazard was not uncovered, as no testing was conducted to ascertain what would happen if the pilot chose to over-ride the auto-pilot more than just ‘momentarily’. 

In this instance the auto-pilot unexpectedly engaged in the middle of a complex manoeuvre known as ‘return-to-target’ turn. As the Cyclone was at a relatively low altitude the pilot had no time to regain control prior to the aircraft’s impact with the waves. While this incident report provides clinical details of just what went wrong mechanically that fateful day, it does nothing to lessen the tragic loss of captains Brenden MacDonald, Kevin Hagen, Maxime Miron-Morin, sub-lieutenants Abbigail Cowbrough and Matthew Pyke, and Master Cpl. Matthew Cousins.

What also remains unexplained was the inexplicable manner in which DND conveyed the news of this tragedy to the Canadian public. Within hours of the crash, Greek news outlets were reporting the downing of the Sea King helicopter in the Ionian Sea. This, in turn, was almost immediately circulated on Canadian social media platforms. However mainstream defence reporters were skeptical of the story as being potential ‘disinformation’ as the Canadian Forces was no longer flying the Sea King. 

On April 30, 2020, more than 30 hours after the incident occurred the DND issued a formal statement advising the media that “One member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) was killed…and five others remain missing following an accident involving a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CH-148 Cyclone helicopter.

We were also informed that “HMCS Fredericton and NATO allies continue to search for the other 5 members of the helicopter crew”. Details on the cause of the crash were unknown and the official story was that the crew of HMCS Fredericton “had lost contact with the helicopter” prior to the crash. The scenario DND painted was that of a mysterious crash sparking a major search-and-rescue operation by the entire NATO squadron.

Pundits took to the airwaves to discuss the challenges of mounting such a search for survivors in the vastness of the Ionian sea. As the hours dragged on experts commented on the effectiveness of survival suits. Some of the usual alarmists noted that a Russian submarine was known to be in the vicinity and that might somehow explain the downing of the Cyclone. Within the Canadian military community social media posts expressed grief and sorrow for Sub-Lt Cowbrough who had been pronounced dead, whilst they all offered prayers and hope for the family, friends and comrades of the five missing crew members. Initial statements by both Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Chief of Defence Staff General Jon Vance implied that the helicopter had crashed some distance from HMCS Fredericton.

Finally, on May 1, more than 48 hours after the incident occurred, the DND issued an update announcing this was now a search-and-recover mission with all crew members presumed dead. It was around this timeframe that the CBC was informed of the actual details of the Cyclone crash. It turns out that the helicopter was doing a low level pass right beside HMCS Fredericton when the aircraft suddenly nosedived into the waves. A number of the crew aboard the warship watched the crash in real time. The impact into the sea was so close to the ship that rescue craft from Fredericton were able to reach the crash site quick enough to recover the black box and the body of Cowbrough. When confronted with this alternate version of events, the DND admitted the fact that there would be eyewitness testimony included in the accident report. No one has ever explained where the false narrative was inserted or why DND allowed the media (myself included) to push out false details until a whistleblower contacted CBC with the truth.

There would be no reason for HMCS Fredericton’s crew to report anything other than the truth back to NDHQ. In this era where we are constantly warned to be wary of malignant foreign actors spreading disinformation, it is all the more imperative that we can trust and rely upon the information we receive from official sources such as DND. Especially when it pertains to the lives of our service members. Once again I offer my sincere condolences to the families, friends and comrades of those who perished in this tragic crash.

ON TARGET: CAF: Weaponization Of Public Affairs Backfires

By Scott Taylor

It is now official. Last week the Department of National Defence released the results of four separate internal investigations into the Canadian military’s recent forays on using propaganda and influence activities on fellow Canadians.

The conclusion of one investigation was that military commanders had violated various rules and acted outside of their authority when they employed intelligence teams to collect information on the public. Another report concluded the military public affairs branch was out of line in its decision to move forward with new policies that would allow the use of propaganda techniques against Canadian citizens.

The not so funny part of this story is that pretty much every concerned Canadian knew that it was wrong for the Canadian military to spy on, and attempt to deceive the public, when the Ottawa Citizen first broke the news of these initiatives last year.

It was also clear that some senior military and political leaders understood immediately when the Citizen stories broke, that it was just plain wrong that the Canadian Armed Forces had created teams to harvest data from the social media accounts of private citizens.

Then Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance, the man who first coined the phrase “the weaponization of Public Affairs”, quickly realized that his new ‘weapon’ had resulted in a very serious self-inflicted wound in terms of public trust. As such, Vance ordered an immediate halt to these operations.

For his part, Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan promised his fellow parliamentarians that these questionable activities by the military had been terminated shortly after they began.

However, a new report obtained by the CBC revealed that after Vance publicly ordered one of the initiatives halted in April 2020, portions of a military campaign meant to influence the Canadian public during the COVID-19 pandemic continued to operate for another six months.

It was only after Vance issued a written command in November 2020 that these influence activities were finally terminated.

Around the same time, the Citizen reported on other military schemes to begin using influence tactics on Canadians. It revealed that the Canadian Forces had already spent more than $1 million to train public affairs officers on behavior modification techniques similar to those used by the parent firm of Cambridge Analytics, a company which was implicated in a 2016 data-mining scandal aimed at boosting Donald Trumps U.S. presidential campaign.

That initiative was the brain child of Brig-Gen Jay Janzen, who was at the time the senior officer in the Public Affairs Branch.

Vance also formally shut down another Janzen’s initiatives, this one a controversial plan that news reports pointed out would have allowed military public affairs officers to use propaganda to change attitudes and behaviours of Canadians as well as collect and analyze information from the public’s social media accounts.

In reacting to this embarrassing public cancellation of his pet project, Janzen posted a message to his public affairs subordinates advising them “these efforts were on the leading edge, and we were exploring unchartered territory, innovation is something prone, to being misunderstood.” Poor Janzen – “Just a soul whose intentions were good, oh lord please don’t let [him] be misunderstood” – to paraphrase the old Animals hit.

That, however, was not how the military brass viewed it. The most recent review released by acting CDS Lt-Gen Wayne Eyre and Deputy Minister Jody Thomas concluded that the initiative was “incompatible with the Government of Canada Communications Policy (and the) mission and principles of Public Affairs.”

For anyone to think this mandate would be enhanced by widening that mandate to include psychological and information operations against Canadian civilians is simply mondo bonkers.

Instead of building trust with the media and the public, this plan harmed  the reputation of not only the public affairs branch, but by extension the reputation of the Canadian Forces as an institution.

Canadians want their military to defend Canadian interests and uphold Canadian values at home and abroad. We do not want them spying on us, deceiving us or trying to modify our behavior.

For the record, no one involved in these plans, either in the public affairs branch or intelligence branch, have ever been sanctioned by the military leadership.

ON TARGET: Military Police Should Call In RCMP To Dispel Perception Of Lack Of Independence

By Scott Taylor

It was on Sunday Feb. 2 that the current military sexual misconduct scandal first emerged.

Global National reporter Mercedes Stephenson broke the story that recently stepped down Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance was accused of two counts of sexual misconduct.

What made these allegations newsworthy was the fact that during his entire five-year tenure as CDS, Vance had been the driving force behind his own Operation Honour, an initiative intended to stamp out sexual misconduct within the Canadian Armed Forces.

Vance was no longer the CDS but he was still a serving general. His successor, Admiral Art McDonald announced that in addition to a military police investigation into the allegations against Vance, there would be a separate, independent investigation into the former CDS’s actions.

In an attempt to bolster morale and restore confidence in the senior leadership, McDonald put out a message to the rank and file on Feb. 24.

In his memo McDonald encouraged any other potential victims of sexual misconduct to come forward. That very same day word was leaked to the media that McDonald was himself under military police investigation for an alleged case of sexual misconduct dating back to 2010.

By nightfall it was announced that McDonald would step aside as CDS until the police investigation had run its course.

Losing two top generals in three weeks proved to be just the tip of the iceberg.

The next revelation was that Lt-Gen Chris Coates had an extramarital affair while serving at NORAD headquarters. This incident prevented his posting to NATO Headquarters in Naples, and Coates has since retired from the CAF.

Far more startling was the allegations of rape against Vice Admiral Haydn Edmundson. That incident allegedly occurred aboard a RCN warship in 1991. Edmundson has since stepped down from his post as Chief of Military Personnel. The rape investigation remains ongoing.

One of Canada’s most noted generals is Major-General Dany Fortin who was seconded to the Public Health Agency of Canada to oversee the roll out of COVID-19 vaccines. Fortin’s telegenic appearances on nightly newscasts had become a reassuring fixture for Canadians eagerly anticipating an end to the pandemic.

Then on May 14, DND issued a brief three line press release announcing that Fortin was relieved of his Public Health post because he too, was under investigation. News reports pointed to allegations of past sexual misconduct. In Fortin’s case the complaint dates back to 1989 when he was a cadet at the College Militaire Royale in St. Jean, Quebec.

Also turfed from his secondment at the Public Health Agency was Brig-Gen Simon Bernard for allegedly uttering a racial slur while on duty.

For writing a letter to a judge in support of a convicted perpetrator of sexual assault, Major-Gen Pete Dawe was relieved as Commander of Canada’s elite Special Operations Force Command (CANSOFCOM). Dawe’s character reference was for an officer convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow officer’s wife.

The most recent purge of the senior ranks involves the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, Lt-Gen Mike Rouleau and Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy Vice Admiral Craig Baines.

News outlets reported on June 12 that Baines and Rouleau had played a game of golf on June 2 with former CDS General Vance.

The optics of  them associating with one of the accused was grounds for Rouleau to resign as VCDS. For his part, Baines has apologized and has taken personal leave.

Critics of Rouleau’s casual outing with Vance were quick to point out that as VCDS, the military police are technically under his control. Add this to the fact that Major Kellie Brennan, one of Vance’s accusers, testified before a parliamentary committee that  the former CDS bragged to her that he was ‘untouchable’ and that he had the CFNIS [Canadian National Investigation Service] “under control.”

Within this scenario, the CFNIS are now in a no-win situation. If they investigate and uncover no grounds for criminal charges against Vance, the public will presume the investigation was thwarted from within.

My advice to Provost Marshal Brigadier General Simon Trudeau is to pre-empt such a predicament by announcing that Rouleau’s actions and Brennan’s allegations have already tainted any possible CFNIS conclusion.

Admit the obvious and call in the RCMP to conduct an independent investigation.

The truth will set you free.

ON TARGET: Clueless in Iraq: The Sequel

By Scott Taylor

Last week the Canadian Press reported on a memo which they had obtained from the Department of National Defence under the Access-to-Information law.

The memo was dated January 16, 2020 and was written by Lt-Gen Mike Rouleau who was the commander of Canadian Joint Operations Command at that time. The recipient of the memo was then Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance.

The gist of Rouleau’s message to Vance was that the ‘identifying and vetting’ of Iraqi recruits to participate in the Canadian-led NATO training mission in Iraq “lacked the sufficient depth required.”

Taken in isolation this warning from Rouleau may seem at first glance to be rather innocuous. However, it is important to note the timeline here.

Earlier this month, David Pugliese at the Ottawa Citizen broke the story of Canadian military trainers in Iraq having witnessed video evidence of war crimes committed by the very Iraqi soldiers whom they were sent to train.

That incident occurred back in September 2018 and according to the internal report, the Canadian trainers immediately informed their superiors of these war crimes and requested guidance on how to proceed.

At least seven Canadian non-commissioned officers had viewed the videos. As professional soldiers they realized that the acts committed by their Iraqi recruits violated article 50 of the Geneva Convention which prohibits acts of “willful killing, torture, or inhuman treatment” of prisoners.

Included in the eagerly offered video evidence was footage of Iraqis “raping a woman to death; torture and execution of a line of bound prisoners whereby they were beaten to death with what appeared to be rebar steel bars; the execution of prisoners by shooting; and the execution of a man by hanging him from the barrel of a [Main Battle Tank],” according to a Canadian Forces briefing note.

Understandably the Canadian NCO’s had some serious qualms about teaching such sadistic killers in order to provide them with enhanced military skills.

Faced with this dilemma, the senior leadership in-theatre assured the NCO’s that this matter would be dealt with, but in the meantime, training of these war criminals was to continue unabated.

The Canadian trainers were also told that in the future, they should abstain from watching such videos, and for god’s sake, not to take possession of any such evidence.

When the mission concluded without the Canadian trainers having seen any action taken against the Iraqi perpetrators, the NCO’s continued to ask questions to their senior leadership after their return to CFB Petawawa, ON.

One of the Canadian witnesses wrote to his superior “we remain uncertain whether this appropriate action was effectively taken. I am an ethical man and I believe in our moral doctrine and the [Law of Armed Conflict]. I am bothered by the fact that my assigned duties allowed me to train and enable people who in my mind were criminals.”

More than three years later, and after the Ottawa Citizen broke the story citing 2018 DND briefing notes, we are told that the military police are conducting an investigation into the CAF’s leadership’s handling of this incident. Note that no one seems willing to pursue the original Iraqi war criminals.

Also important to the timeline of events are the statements made in August 2018 by Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin. He had just been appointed to command the overall Canadian led NATO training mission in Iraq.

When asked by journalists how Canadians could properly vet the Iraqi recruits, Fortin confidently replied, “I think we have a pretty good vetting process in place to screen out those potential [Iraqi] instructors to ensure we have quality people, that they the Iraqi government feel confident with.”

One month later our trainers on the ground in Iraq viewed the video evidence of war crimes and reported it up their chain-of-command. From this latest memo released to the Canadian Press news service we now know that more than one year after the top brass knew that our troops were training war criminals, they still lacked the ability to properly screen any incoming Iraqi recruits.

On September 4, 2018 I wrote a column about the then impending training mission entitled “Clueless in Iraq.” I included a side note to Maj.-Gen. Fortin, which read: “I cannot wish you success in your mission because you are embarked on a fool’s errand. Training more Iraqis to kill in the name of a corrupt regime is insane.”

Little did I know that our soldiers would be knowingly training war criminals how to better kill in the name of a corrupt regime.

Fool’s errand indeed.

ON TARGET: “I See Cracks”: General Eyre

By Scott Taylor

Last week in an interview with the Canadian Press Lieutenant-General Wayne Eyre, Canada’s acting Chief of the Defence Staff, admitted that the Canadian military is beginning to exhibit ‘cracks’.

Eyre explained that these ‘cracks’ are the result of the Canadian Armed Forces facing a multitude of concurrent challenges in terms of maintaining a brisk operational tempo while dealing with plummeting morale in the ranks.

The greatest contributor to that loss of faith in the senior leadership has been the almost continuous barrage of sexual misconduct revelations involving the top brass.

The first of these bombshells exploded on Feb. 2, 2021 when Global National’s Mercedes Stephenson revealed two allegations of sexual impropriety against General Jonathan Vance.

Vance had just stepped down as CDS after a five-year stint as Canada’s top soldier, but he had not yet officially retired from the Forces.

Admiral Art McDonald announced that in addition to a Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) investigation into the Vance allegations, a separate independent inquiry would be initiated into the actions of the former CDS.

The ink was still damp on McDonald’s message when it was announced that he was stepping aside as CDS to allow the CFNIS investigate a sexual misconduct complaint against him.

Then came the news that Lt.-Gen. Chris Coates would not be deploying to his new position at NATO headquarters because of an extra-marital affair he had while at his NORAD posting in Colorado Springs.

Next up to bat was Chief of Military Personnel, Vice Admiral Haydn Edmundson. News reports first cited that as a young officer Edmundson had faced allegations of impropriety while an instructor at CFB Esquimalt. The chain of command at the time had cleared Edmundson, which earned him the satirical nickname of the ‘mulligan’ man.

However once that story broke, memories were jarred and a separate accusation arose against Edmundson. This was an allegation of rape that occurred aboard a RCN ship in 1991.

On Friday, May 14 it was announced that Major General Dany Fortin was suspended from his high profile post overseeing the national roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines with the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The reason for Fortin’s removal was that he too was under investigation by the CFNIS for past sexual misconduct. Media reports have revealed that the complaint against Fortin dated back to 1989 when he was a cadet at the College Militaire Royal in St Jean, Quebec.

In less than four months Canada lost two four star generals, two three star generals and a very high profile two star general. For the purists, I realize that Canadian generals wear maple leafs instead of stars, but either way you slice it, that is a lot of brass to lose in a very short span of time.

In the wake of this sudden exodus, senior female officers have been promoted or appointed to key positions.

Lt. Gen. Frances Allen is to become Canada’s first female Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. Jennie Carignan was recently promoted to Lieutenant-General and named to head the task force to eliminate sexual misconduct.

Commodore Josee Kurtz will soon assume the post of commandant at the Royal Military College in Kingston. The first female to hold that position.

Stepping up to fill the void left by Fortin’s departure is Brigadier-General Krista Brodie who was previously Fortin’s deputy commander at the Public Health Agency.

These promotions will definitely change the face of the ‘old boy’s club’, which was previously the composition of our senior military leadership. However, this in itself will not be enough to change an institutional culture that has been defined as highly sexualized by none other than former Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps in her 2015 independent review of military sexual misconduct.

I think Lt.-Gen. Eyre is optimistic to describe the current crisis in the military as mere ‘cracks.’

The CAF is currently changing the senior leadership on the fly, trying to alter a decades old culture of sexual misconduct, while still managing overseas operational deployments in Latvia and Iraq, coping with a personnel shortfall of 2,300 soldiers, and still assisting Canadians in dealing with a deadly pandemic.

This is definitely no time for anymore ‘cracks’.

ON TARGET: Belarus Regime’s Plan Backfired

By Scott Taylor

On Sunday May 23, a Ryanair flight from Athens, Greece enroute to Vilnius, Lithuania was diverted while in Belarus airspace and forced to land at the Minsk airport.

The Belarus authorities had claimed there was a bomb threat, which prompted them to alert the airliner’s flight crew. A Belarus Airforce Mig-29 fighter jet was also dispatched to escort the Ryanair aircraft to the Minsk airport.

Once on the ground Belarus security forces failed to find a bomb, but they did identify and arrest Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.

Citing press freedom and global aviation laws, the U.S. led the international cries of outrage. On Thursday May 27, Canada joined in the chorus with Prime Minister Trudeau calling the incident an “attack on democracy.”

If this was in fact an elaborate and diabolical plot conceived by Lukashenko with the intention of squashing the voice of Protasevich, he has to be one of the dumbest dictators to ever rule a country.

Forcing a civilian airliner to land using a phony bomb threat and military jets was bound to grab the attention of every media outlet in the world.

Few Canadians could have located Belarus on the map before this incident, and fewer still could have named Lukashenko as the president despite the fact he has been in power for the past 27 years.

Now, we know that Lukashenko has been dubbed ‘Europe’s last dictator’ and that Belarus is one of Vladimir Putin’s few remaining allies.

However, with this single outrageous act Lukashenko has also unwittingly vastly empowered his heretofore virtually unknown opponent.

Overnight Roman Protasevich went from being an obscure blogger to having dozens of world leaders demanding his release in the name of free press.

Of course once he was thrust into the media spotlight people began to ask just who is this Roman Protasevich? Well, it turns out that he is a 26-year-old self proclaimed activist – journalist.

He began his involvement in the anti-Lukashenko opposition movement in 2011, at the age of sixteen.

Three years later he was drawn into the growing unrest in neighboring Ukraine. After participating in the Maiden protests in Kiev that eventually toppled the regime of Viktor Yanukovich, Protasevich joined the Azov Battalion.

The Azov battalion was notorious for its neo-Nazi links and was largely comprised of foreign volunteers like Protasevich.

While it is unclear exactly what role Protasevich had with Azov, the battalion’s founder Andriy Biletsky confirmed that he served with the unit. “[He] actually fought with the Azov battalion and other units against the occupation of Ukraine, but as a journalist his weapon was not the machine gun but the word,” Biletsky wrote.

Following his combat tour in Ukraine, Protasevich returned to Minsk to start a blog. After being arrested for hooliganism, Protasevich fled to Prague where he entered the employ of the U.S. funded Radio Free Europe, Belarus edition.

He subsequently co-founded a Telegram channel show called Nexta which was instrumental in helping to organize the massive anti-Lukashenko political demonstrations that followed Belarus’ August 2020 presidential elections. At the time of his arrest, Protasevich was listed as the chief editor of a blog called “Belarus of the Brain.”

So prior to this act of air privacy to seize and detain Protasevich, he was a young agitator who fought in a foreign war in a neo-Nazi unit, working for himself as a blogger.

Now, thanks to Lukashenko’s mad plan to publicly kidnap him, Protasevich is hailed by world leaders – including Trudeau – for bravely advancing the cause of free speech around the globe.

So not only did Lukashenko bring international wrath in the form of sanctions against Belarus, he simultaneously lionized a man who was previously an irritating nemesis at best, into a martyr for press freedom.

That would fall into the category of ‘lose-lose’ for Lukashenko.

ON TARGET: The DND Sexual Misconduct Saga Continues Unabated

By Scott Taylor

Late in the afternoon of Friday, May 14 the Department of National Defence issued a curt, three line press release announcing that Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin was being removed from his post pending the results of a military police investigation.

Fortin is of course no ordinary senior officer. Since his assignment to the Public Health Agency last November, the telegenic Fortin has become the face of Canada’s national vaccine roll-out.

Given his high profile, the media immediately began to dig for answers. Well placed government sources advised Bob Fife, the Globe and Mail Ottawa Bureau Chief, that the misconduct for which Fortin was being investigated was of a sexual nature and that the incident in question had occurred prior to the launching of the 2015 Operation Honour initiative to combat sexual misconduct in the ranks.

This timeline also meant that it did not happen on the current Trudeau Liberal government’s watch.

Fife’s insight was widely cited by the other media outlets as no one had anything else to go on.

Then, on Sunday May 16, CTV’s Annie Bergeron Oliver revealed that the complaint against Fortin actually had been filed two months earlier with the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service (CFNIS). The complainant alleges Fortin exposed his genitalia while he was a cadet at the College Militaire Royal in the spring of 1989.

While Fortin did not respond directly, his lawyer, Commander Mark Letourneau told the media that his client “vigorously and categorically denies the allegation.” Letourneau also revealed that prior to being contacted by CTV, Fortin was unaware of the nature of the complaint against him.

Then on Wednesday May 19, Brig.-Gen. Simon Trudeau, the Canadian Armed Forces Provost Marshal, informed the media the CFNIS had concluded their investigation into the Fortin allegation.

The findings of their investigation were forwarded to the Quebec public prosecution service to determine whether criminal charges are warranted in this case.

According to the Provost Marshal the referral of this case to the Quebec prosecutors had taken place “late [the previous] week.” Which means the investigation was complete and out of the military’s control before Fortin was publicly removed from this assignment with the Public Health Agency’s Vaccine roll-out.

Then there is the claim from counsel Letourneau that the CTV reporter’s revelation of the nature of the allegation against Fortin took his client “completely by surprise.” If that is true, then this would mean the CFNIS wrapped up their investigation into a 32-year-old incident without having questioned the accused.

As for the rationale behind putting this in the hands of the Quebec prosecutors, that is explained by the fact that the alleged crime took place before 1998. Prior to that juncture the military did not have the judicial authority to try cases involving crimes of a sexual nature.

The Fortin saga has of course sparked the opposition parties to demand answers of who-knew-what-when among the top Trudeau Liberals.

Questions are being asked of acting Chief of Defence Staff Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre as to why he left Fortin at his post for two months after being informed of the complaint. Others want to know why Minister of Defence Harjit Sajjan once again did not take any immediate action.

The revolving door of departures for Canada’s top generals began on February 2, 2021 with the first allegations against recently stepped down Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance.

Then it was his successor Admiral Art McDonald who stepped aside while military police continue to investigate allegations of a sexual misconduct incident dating back to 2010.

Lt.-Gen Chris Coates announced his retirement from the military after revelations of an extra-marital-affair at NORAD headquarters in Colorado Springs, precluded him from deploying to NATO headquarters in Naples.

Vice Admiral Haydn Edmundson has been replaced as Chief of Military Personnel after a female sailor alleged she had been raped in 1991.

In each of these cases – with the exception of Coates who is not accused of any crime – the allegations are historical in nature. Perhaps more importantly in a justice system that is to presume innocence until guilt is proven, all four of these senior officers under investigation have denied any wrongdoing.

Yet they have already been stripped of command and condemned in the court of public opinion.

Iraq Mission: A Failure of Leadership?

By Scott Taylor

Last week a very disturbing story surfaced in the media which once again clearly illustrates how the Canadian military leadership is totally out of its depth in Iraq.

My colleague David Pugliese at the Ottawa Citizen obtained internal military documents which reveal how Canadian soldiers faced a moral dilemma when they were shown evidence of war crimes committed by the very Iraqi soldiers which they were sent to train.

It wasn’t as if our Canadian trainers stumbled across these videos. It was the Iraqi soldiers who boastfully played them for the Canadians as though it was proof of their martial success.

The graphic images included those of “raping a woman to death; torture and execution of a line of bound prisoners whereby they were beaten to death with what appeared to be rebar steel bars; the execution of bound prisoners by shooting; and the execution of a man by hanging him from the barrel of a [Main Battle Tank]” states a Canadian Armed Forces briefing note.

At least seven Canadian non-commissioned officers viewed the footage and to their credit, they immediately reported the situation to their superiors.

All trained soldiers should know that Article 50 of the Geneva Convention prohibits acts of “willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment” of prisoners.

What the Canadian instructors had seen clearly constituted war crimes perpetrated by the very Iraqi soldiers to whom they were to teach additional weapons and tactical skills.

One sergeant reportedly recommended suspending the training in order for his superiors to deal with this issue first.

However, the senior leadership in theatre assured the NCO’s that the matter would be dealt with, but in the meantime they were to press on with the training of these Iraqis. Just to be on the safe side, the officers also advised the NCO’s that in the future they should not view such videos, and more importantly not take possession of any images. See no evil.

The initial incident took place on 18 September, 2018 at a U.S. military facility near the Iraqi city of Mosul. The troops involved were from the Royal Canadian Regiment based at CFB Petawawa.

They had been sent to train an Iraqi unit known as the Wide Area Security Force (WASF).

Many of these Iraqis had fought against ISIS in the recently concluded liberation of Mosul.

One can easily understand how our soldiers would have qualms about associating with and training individuals who were capable of such cold-blooded murderous crimes.

Yes, the violent crimes perpetrated by ISIS were widely publicized, but that does not grant one the right to kill disarmed ISIS captives in the same fashion.

Police do not get to beat serial killers to death or sodomize rapists. That is what separates criminals from law enforcers.

Despite the reassurances that some sort of action was being taken, it seems the soldiers on the ground did not believe it.

Once the unit was back in Petawawa, they continued to press for answers. “We remain uncertain whether this appropriate action was effectively taken,” wrote one of the NCOs “I am an ethical man and I believe in our moral doctrine and the [Law of Armed Conflict]. I am bothered by the fact that my assigned duties allowed me to train and enable people who in my mind were criminals.” 

When the 2018 training mission was first announced, the commander -  Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin assured skeptical journalists that he was confident in Canada’s ability to screen Iraqi recruits. “I think we have a pretty good vetting process in place to screen out those potential [Iraqi] instructors to ensure we have quality people, that they the Iraqi government feel confident with,” Fortin told reporters.

One month later the RCR NCO’s reported the videos of war crimes committed by these same Iraqi instructors, and they were told keep quiet and to continue the training.

Some vetting process.

On 30 March, Canada extended Operation Impact, the mission to Iraq and the Middle East, for one more year. Since first deploying troops to Iraq in 2014, Canada has spent over $1 billion on the mission.

After all that time and money, we still can’t tell the good guys from the war criminals. Even with the video evidence.

ON TARGET: Canada Must Denounce Glorification of Nazis

By Scott Taylor

On 28 April approximately 250 people marched through the streets of Kiev, Ukraine to commemorate the 78th anniversary of the WW2 Waffen SS Division Galicia.

That’s right folks, hundreds of people gathered despite the threat of spreading the COVID-19 virus, to commemorate Ukrainian soldiers who took an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler and fought for Nazi Germany.

This parade drew an immediate backlash from Germany’s ambassador to Ukraine, Anka Feldhusen. She tweeted “Waffen SS units participated in the worst war crimes and the Holocaust during WW2. No volunteer organizations fighting and working for Ukraine today should be associated with them.”

This blatant display of Nazi glorification was also condemned by the Israeli ambassador in Kiev and the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Sadly, there was no such reaction from the Canadian embassy nor from the Canadian Armed Forces. Canada presently has over 200 military trainers assisting the Ukrainian armed forces in the face of Russian aggression.

For the regime in Kiev to not only allow a tribute to Hitler’s SS to take place, but to also provide the marchers with a police escort, flies in the face of all those Canadian soldiers who fought and died in WW2 to defeat the Nazi regime.

For the record, and before the apologists claim this event was an exercise in ‘free speech’, Ukraine has cancelled this year’s May 9 traditional celebration of Victory Day WW2 due to COVID19 concerns.

Ukrainians were prevented from gathering to celebrate the defeat of Hitler, but allowed to parade in commemoration of Ukrainians who volunteered to fight for the Nazis?

The U.S. State Department did not directly condemn the parade but in a statement to The Nation they noted “We welcome [Ukraine] President Zelensky’s strong statement condemning the march.” However, they added the comment that the U.S. State Department “continues to monitor and systematically refute a longstanding Russian disinformation campaign that conflates support for Ukrainian sovereignty with support for neo-Nazi and fascist ideals.”

Here is a little bit of free advice for those concerned about Russian disinformation: just put an end to parades and events that glorify Hitler’s Waffen SS.

While I can understand that Ukrainians are proud of their heritage, I cannot fathom why young nationalists seek to glorify those who took up arms to enforce the Nazi’s ideology? Yes, I understand that Stalin imposed ruthless measures against the people of Ukraine and that they suffered horribly under the Soviet regime.

However, the fact that Ukrainian men took up arms to fight the Red Army as members of the Waffen SS does not change the reality that Hitler’s Nazis perpetrated the Holocaust.

Of all the incredible accomplishments that Ukrainians have achieved throughout history – music, literature, cuisine, art etc, I cannot fathom why it is a flawed military unit that fought for Hitler, which these young Ukrainians have chosen to revere.

Formed in 1943, the SS Galicia Division only really fought one major engagement against the Soviets in the Battle of Brody in July 1944.

The SS Galicia was soundly defeated and it was subsequently relegated to fighting against partisans, first in Slovakia and then in Yugoslavia.

For those who would paint the SS Galicia volunteers as fighters for Ukraine’s independence, this theory cannot be justified in view of the fact they actually fought against civilian patriots in Slovakia and Slovenia to enforce Hitler’s Nazi occupation.

In the final days of the war, the SS Galicia changed their name to the 1st Ukrainian Division prior to surrendering to the allies in Austria.

After a lengthy internment in Italy, many of these Ukrainian SS veterans emigrated to Canada. There is actually a memorial erected to the memory of the SS Galicia division in Oakville, Ontario.

That said, it is estimated that over 40,000 Ukrainian Canadians served in the Canadian military during WW2, fighting to defeat Hitler.

It is those brave, patriotic Ukrainian- Canadians that Canada needs to remember. It will make it far easier for our government to publicly denounce any future Nazi-glorification in Ukraine.

ON TARGET: MISGUIDED LOYALTY: MILITARY BRASS SUPPORTED SEX OFFENDER, NOT VICTIMS

By Scott Taylor

Last week yet another disturbing story surfaced regarding the military and sexual misconduct. A retired Special forces major told the CBC that he felt betrayed when senior military leaders provided glowing character references to the fellow soldier who was convicted of sexually assaulting his wife.

The incident occurred in 2017 following the conviction of Major Jonathan Hamilton in a civilian court on six charges.

Prior to his sentencing hearing Hamilton’s defence lawyers received positive character reference letters from Major-General Pete Dawe, at the time deputy commander of special operation command, and Lieutenant- Colonel Scott McGregor on behalf of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry regiment.

Those letters from senior military leaders admittedly had an impact on Justice Larry O’Brien, the sentencing judge in Hamilton’s case. According to the transcript of the hearing, O’Brien said that Hamilton’s military superiors characterized him as “a man of great character and leadership before being engulfed in PTSD.”

In light of Hamilton’s distinguished service to his country, O’Brien sentenced him to three years probation rather than jail time.

On the surface this would not appear to be an unusual circumstance for a commanding officer and for the officer’s regiment to plead for leniency on behalf of a soldier who has proven himself on the battlefield.

However, contrary to the regimental assertion to Justice O’Brien that this case was an “isolated legal incident” it must be noted that Hamilton has since been sentenced to three years in custody for an unrelated sexual assault case.

What is truly perplexing is the fact that, in the first case, Hamilton’s victims were fellow members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

The crimes for which Hamilton was convicted involve breaking into a Kingston Ontario home in 2013 and sexually assaulting Annalise Schamuhn on two separate occasions.

He was also convicted of twice physically assaulting Kevin Schamuhn. The Schamuhns are now both retired from the military, but at the time of the incident Kevin was a major serving in the special forces, and like Hamilton, was a member of the PPCLI. Annalise served for 13 years as a logistics officer.

One can therefore easily understand the sense of betrayal Kevin Schamuhn must have felt when he and his wife were victimized, and both his commanding officer and his regimental officer showed support to his attacker.

Upon learning that the character reference letters were being submitted, Schamuhn confronted MGen Dawe and the PPCLI regimental colonel Jason Adair.

Despite Schamuhn’s plea for them to either rescind their letters or edit them to remove anything other than Hamilton’s professional qualifications, both letters were submitted unchanged.

“It made the feeling of betrayal much worse.” Schamuhn told the CBC. “This was the first time I asked for something that meant so much and we were left out to dry.”

Which brings us to the whole point of senior officers requesting lenience from a civilian judge in a sexual assault case because of PTSD developed through military service.

If a service member requires mental health care, then provide them with mental health care.

Suffering from PTSD should not be a literal “get out of jail free” card. Volunteering to serve in uniform should not automatically reduce punishment for a civilian crime.

In fact, like those in law enforcement, military members are trusted to be upholding of those values which they are sworn to protect.

In the Hamilton case he didn’t just violate a random victim, he assaulted a fellow soldier and his wife.

That the military brass chose to stand behind the perpetrator and not support the victim in this case is troubling.

However, it also needs to be remembered that those letters of character reference were submitted back in 2017.

In light of recent explosion of me-too sexual misconduct revelations ripping through the senior ranks of the Canadian military, there will not be many similar letters of character reference being submitted to support soldiers convicted of sex assault. And if there are, they won’t be worth the paper they are written on in the eyes of any judge.

ON TARGET: The General Vance Saga: So Many Not-So-Secret-Secrets

By Scott Taylor

The more bombshell revelations that drop in the military sexual misconduct scandal, the more one understands the scale of the complicity of those who have remained silent.

Last Thursday evening, the parliamentary Standing Committee on the Status of Women heard some shocking testimony from Major Kellie Brennan.

Arguably it was Brennan’s allegations against recently retired former Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance – revealed by journalist Mercedes Stephenson on Global News – that set the current military ‘me too’ phenom in motion.

Originally Brennan had wished to remain anonymous when she publicly alleged that she had participated in a lengthy extra-marital affair with General Vance, including during his five-year tenure as Canada’s top soldier.

However since the story first broke Brennan has brought forward many more damning details first through an exclusive Global News interview and most recently before the commons committee.

According to Brennan, during the course of her nearly twenty-year affair with Vance, many of her superior officers were well aware of the liaisons because she made a point of telling them.

She revealed that while they were both working in Toronto, her and Vance would have sex in his office and in his car. According to Brennan, the two slept together on 16 July 2015, the night before Vance assumed the post of CDS.

After sex that evening, Brennan claims that Vance read through the speech he was to give the following day in which he would stress the importance of stamping out sexual misconduct in the Canadian military.

She told Global News that after the first story broke and before her identity was public, Vance had called her and instructed her to lie to the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service (CFNIS) Investigators when they questioned her.

At the committee hearing she testified that she had provided the CFNIS detectives with the audio recordings of Vance allegedly instructing her to give a false statement.

Brennan also stated that Vance claimed to her that as former CDS he is ‘untouchable’ and that he ‘owns’ the CFNIS.

Last week’s big reveal at the hearings was Brennan’s claim that Vance is the father of two of her eight children and that he pays her no support.

For Journalists covering this story the part about Brennan raising eight children as a single parent was not news. The minute her identity was known a quick Google search unearthed an 8 May 2016 news story in the Ottawa Citizen entitled ‘Army of mom: Captain with 8 kids urges more child-care compensation for big families.’ Supporting her in this quest for additional child care funds was Conservative, MP Pierre Poilievre.

As the opposition critic of Treasury Board, President Scott Brison and her own local MP, Brennan realized that Poilievre was best positioned to help achieve her goal. That and the media coverage by the Citizen complete with a photo of Brennan and her eight children grouped around Poilievre in a local park.

The gist of Brennan’s plea was that in order for her to get promoted from Captain to Major she required professional training courses located outside of Ottawa.

At the time, Treasury Board guidelines only provided a $75 a day allowance per family and that was simply not enough to purchase care for eight kids then aged 16 months to 16 years.

Now Brennan reveals that two of those eight were fathered by Vance, who was the CDS at the time she took her tale to the Citizen. The Army of Mom story also noted that Brennan subsidized her military Captain’s reservist salary with a part-time real estate job.

It was earlier reported that in 2015, the CFNIS had investigated Vance for an alleged extra marital affair while he was stationed at NATO headquarters in Naples, Italy. Vance was cleared of any wrongdoing and subsequently married the alleged mistress, a U.S. JAG officer.

The Harper government subsequently named Vance as their CDS and his first task was to implement Operation Honour, the initiative to wipe out sexual misconduct in the CAF.

If Brennan’s allegations prove to be true – and to be fair, Vance has maintained he has done nothing wrong, including fathering any of Brennan’s children – there will be a lot of people that will have some explaining to do.

Vance would have had a top-level security clearance yet we are to believe that many people were aware of his affair with Brennan and our counter-intelligence folks saw and heard nothing for the past twenty years?

Impossible.

ON TARGET: Afghanistan: Three Decades of Futility?

By Scott Taylor

Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden finally admitted that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable. Starting in May the remaining American troops - roughly 3,500 - will begin pulling out of their bases in Afghanistan.

By this September 11th, the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 terror attack that spawned the U.S. 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the last U.S. soldiers will be repatriated home.

The Taliban are celebrating this troop pull-out as their military victory.

For the past two decades, the U.S. have trained, equipped and bankrolled the Afghan forces. Technically this force of nearly 400,000 have been responsible for battling the Taliban since 2014. However without the martial ‘stiffening’ supplied by U.S. special forces and the availability of American air support, the Afghan security forces are no match for the Taliban.

Despite their numbers, these Afghan military units are ill-disciplined and demoralized. They don their uniforms seeking to survive in order to collect their U.S. funded pay cheques, whereas Taliban insurgents are willing to kill themselves in suicide attacks.

Analysts predict that the corrupt U.S.-installed regime of President Ashraf Ghani could hold out in some major urban centers for at most a handful of years. Others predict Ghani’s power will be overthrown as soon as the wheels are up on the last U.S. military evacuation flight from Kabul.

Canada participated in combat operations in Afghanistan from 2002 until December 2011. Our troops continued to deploy to Afghanistan as trainers for the Afghan security forces until the spring of 2014.

When the mission concluded, media outlets began to ask whether or not Canada’s sacrifice had been “worth it?”

The butcher’s bill was steep with 158 soldiers slain, 2047 wounded and injured and thousands more veterans suffering from the unseen mental wounds of PTSD.

The dollar figure spent has yet to be fully tallied but it is estimated that when the long term treatment of our injured veterans is factored into the equation, the war in Afghanistan will have cost taxpayers $22 billion.

On the plus side of the ledger there was not a lot to show in the way of meaningful progress.

At its zenith, the NATO led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of which Canada was one of more than 50 members – boasted a force in excess of 130,000 troops.

These foreign troops were supported by the most modern air force that money can buy.

Despite that overwhelming force, the Taliban continued to resist.

Their continued existence meant that any progress such as the building of schools was temporary at best.

These facts did not deter the war-mongering cabal of media cheerleaders who vehemently opposed Canada terminating our mission to Afghanistan back in 2014.

Their argument was that we needed to see the job through to its eventual victorious conclusion. They harrumphed with indignity at this ‘insult’ to our martial legacy.

Ludicrous comparisons were made to the Second World War and how we didn’t simply pull out of the alliance before Germany and Japan were defeated.

Well, now that Biden has pulled the plug on the U.S. military commitment, we can be certain that Canada will not be missing out on any victory parade.

The Americans and NATO have lost the war.

What is perhaps the worst element of this sad saga is that the senior leadership in the U.S. knew they were in an unwinnable war from the outset – and they chose instead to lie to the American public.

This was categorically revealed in a series of media reports in December 2019. The Washington Post obtained a set of internal documents compiled by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), through the Freedom of Information Act.

These documents clearly illustrated that the “new Pentagon papers describe explicit and sustained efforts by the U.S. government to deliberately mislead the public.”

Even after the news broke regarding the ‘Afghanistan papers’ as they came to be known, the U.S. did not immediately cut their losses.

Now that they have, perhaps even the most hawkish of our military pundits can ask themselves, was Canada’s contribution worth it?

The answer is ‘no’.

ON TARGET: General Confusion: Vaccine Roll-Out In Canada A Bust

By Scott Taylor

The repetitious routine that has become the pandemic norm gives one the false sense that society has been put on hold. However one need only contrast where we were just four months ago to get a sense of how quickly the public sentiment can change.

Back in late November 2020, after more than eight months of lock downs, masks and social distancing, we were given the uplifting news that a vaccine had finally been developed to counter COVID-19.

We realized that this was not the beginning of the end, but it was the end of this beginning as a light was now visible at the end of a heretofore dark tunnel.

Attention was then turned to the massive challenge of actually distributing and administering the millions of vaccine doses once they became available.

In the U.S. President Donald Trump announced that General Gustave Perna would be in charge of Operation Warp Speed which would entail the U.S. military assisting with the logistics of vaccine distribution.

Canada followed suit with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau naming Major-General Dany Fortin to head the national operation center for national vaccine distribution. Fortin works through the Public Health Agency of Canada with support from the Canadian Armed Forces.

At that juncture general officers enjoyed an almost mythical reputation and public adoration: Every province soon wanted one for their own vaccine own task force.

In Alberta they were fortunate to have recently retire Lieutenant-General Paul Wynnk on staff as a senior provincial bureaucrat.

In Ontario - Canada’s largest province and therefore facing the steepest distribution challenge – Premier Doug Ford appointed former Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier to head up the vaccine roll out.

“Rolling out and distributing this vaccine, it will be a massive logistical challenge.” said Ford. “Without the right planning it risks becoming a logistical nightmare … we need the discipline that only a general can bring to the task.”

Hillier, the charismatic former top soldier was confident in his ability to get the job done. “The military gives you incredible experiences and leadership in putting those ‘big muscle’ movements together,” Hillier told reporters at the time, adding “It’s all about the fact that I want to do my duty and serve the people of Ontario as best I can.”

While caught up in his patriotic fervor, Hillier also invoked the memory of the Canadian warrior spirit that carried the day on the WWI battlefield of Vimy Ridge and on the beaches of Normandy 1944.

This no doubt puzzled the average Ontario citizen who simply wanted to know when they could expect to get their COVID-19 shot, and instead got a Canadian military history lesson.

As events have developed, the nationwide rollout has been anything but a clear cut victory, and Ontario in particular has received one of the worst provincial rankings.

According to a recent assessment by Dr. Brian Conway, medical director of Vancouver’s Infectious Disease Center, Hillier’s task force did not get a top grade. “Ontario’s really had a scattered approach, and it’s an approach that’s been marred by a changing overall strategy at the central level but then also trying to deploy things at the level of 34 different public health units,” Conway told Global News.
It was also noted that the distribution to date has not been even across the province and that the real test has yet to begin as the vaccines are only now starting to become available in large quantities.

Premier Ford insists that Hillier has done a great job, but the Ontario government did not extend the former Generals order-in-council $20,000 a month contract beyond the original end date of 31 March 2021.

Hillier has since left the post, and has boastfully declared his mission accomplished. At a 23 March keynote speech to the Canadian Construction Association Hillier recounted his success.

“I used every leadership tool and lever I had to pull together the disparate pieces of the Ontario Health Care System to bring it into one coherent operation for Ontario’s vaccine program,” Hillier told the audience. He went on to explain that a leader’s actions, words and values must align. “If any of these is off sync you lose credibility instantly. And it’s only a matter of time before they find some other leader…” said Hillier prophetically.

Dr. Homer Tien is now the head of Ontario’s Vaccine Task Force.

ON TARGET: It Is High Time for RCAF To Re-Think The Snowbirds

By Scott Taylor

In the past week the RCAF’s famed Snowbirds air demonstration squadron has found itself in the media spotlight on two separate occasions. The first instance was the release of the final report on the tragic crash that occurred shortly after a takeoff from the Kamloops, BC airport on May 17, 2020.

Amateur video footage shot at the time appeared to indicate a bird strike on one of the CT-114 tutor aircraft’s two air-intakes.

As the Tutor lost power, the pilot, Capt. Richard MacDougall attempted to climb and turn back towards the runway. The aircraft then entered an aerodynamic stall. At a dangerously low level both MacDougall and passenger Capt. Jenn Casey, the Snowbirds public affairs officer ejected, from the stricken plane.

Both parachutes failed to fully deploy, resulting in the tragic death of Casey and severe injuries to MacDougall.

Following the RCAF’s 10-month exhaustive review of all the evidence, we are now told that the bird strike did cause the failure of a compressor. However it was MacDougall’s decision to climb sharply which caused the Tutor to stall.

It is also believed that MacDougall’s shout to Casey to “Pull the handle” rather than the standard cry of “Eject! Eject! Eject!” may have led to the .4-second delay in Casey’s seat exiting the aircraft.

The fact that Casey’s seat briefly went backwards after leaving the plane may have been caused by items stowed between the seat and cockpit. That rearward motion delayed the deployment of the drogue chute, which in turn delayed her main chute from opening.

As a result of the findings the RCAF are recommending the Snowbirds’ aircrew receive additional emergency training in the wake of this deadly tragedy.

Coming fast on the heels of the accident report was the news that the Canadian government will spend $30 million in avionic upgrades in order to keep the Snowbirds’ Tutor jet fleet flying through 2030.

This band-aid solution to keep the iconic Snowbirds performing for another decade simply postpones any decision on purchasing a replacement fleet of aircraft.

For those keeping track, or are old enough to remember, the CT-114 Tutor first entered service with the RCAF in 1963 as a basic training plane for would-be fighter pilots.

They became the mainstay of 431 Air Demonstration Squadron (the Snowbirds) in 1971. The original retirement date for these jets was set for 2010. When that deadline loomed, the RCAF pushed the deadline out to 2020.

Now in the spring of 2021, the plan is to invest $30 million in upgrades and fresh paint in order to squeeze another ten years out of these old airframes.

On the flip side of that is the fact that a full procurement of a replacement aircraft is estimated to be in the ballpark of $1.5 billion.

That is a big sack of cheese no matter how you slice it, for what amounts to an aerial circus act. It is a feel-good demonstration team that showcases the RCAF’s incredible proficiency in acrobatic formation flying.

The problem is that while most casual observers may delight in seeing the hair-raising stunts performed in the sky, many do not associate the little red and white jets as being ‘Airforce’.

The Tutor training planes are unarmed and despite being part of Canada’s defence budget they cannot in any way contribute to the defence of our nation.

By their very nature, acrobatic formation stunt fliers put themselves and their aircraft at great risk.

In their 50 year history the Snowbirds have crashed 28 aircraft in 24 separate incidents that resulted in the death of 7 pilots and two passengers. Dozens of other Snowbird pilots suffered serious injuries as well.

To put this in context, in Canada’s three most recent combat aerial campaigns against armed enemies (Kosovo 1999, Libya 2011, Iraq & Syria 2014-2016) RCAF fighter pilots flew a total of 3002 tactical sorties without suffering so much as a scratch on the paint of their CF-18 Hornets.

For those who would argue that the Snowbirds are a good recruiting tool for the RCAF, the fact is that the Snowbirds present a misleading image of what a modern air force actually does.

Much the same way is the RCMP’s Musical Ride. That is an awe inspiring display of horsemanship but it does not reflect the actual role of our national police force.

As for being a public morale booster, let’s not forget that at the time of her death, Capt. Jenn Casey was on a nationwide Snowbirds tour aimed at boosting the spirits of pandemic weary locked down Canadians.

ON TARGET: This Is The Canadian Military’s ‘Me Too’ Moment

(photo courtesy Sherry Bordage)

By Scott Taylor

This past week saw the burgeoning military sexual misconduct scandal continued to spiral out of control. Inspired by what many are referring to as the Canadian Armed Forces “Me Too” moment, victims who were long silenced and sidelined are finding their voice.

In what will probably prove to be the most damaging development for those in CAF officialdom still trying to contain the fallout from this scandal, is that the latest revelations are coming out on social media.

In a recent Facebook video, retired Corporal Sherry Bordage makes disturbing allegations of a 2010 sexual assault. Bordage alleges that her breast was groped at a mess dinner by her platoon NCO, Master Warrant Officer D.J. Prosser.

Following the proper procedure Bordage reported the sex assault that same evening. An investigation resulted in charges being laid against Prosser and a court martial was convened.

However, without consulting with Bordage, the military prosecutors stuck a plea bargain with Prosser. In exchange for the Master Warrant Officer pleading guilty to a service charge of having “ill-treated a person who by reason of rank was subordinate to him” the more serious criminal charge of sex assault was dropped.

Prosser’s punishment was a $1500 fine and a reprimand.

The presiding judge at the court martial, LCol Louis-Vincent d’Auteuil noted in his decision that Bordage – the victim in this affair – had been poorly treated by the military leadership after lodging her complaint.

“She had to endure, for some time, the fact that she was the one who acted wrongly while it was never the case.” concluded d’Auteuil. “There were rumours and conjectures and it had some psychological trauma on her.”

Despite the judge’s observation Bordage’s career remained sidelined by her chain-of-command and in 2014 she retired from the CAF, diagnosed with PTSD.

This case is only the most recent example of the military justice system offering the accused a similar plea bargain wherein the male defendant admits to a service offence and thus avoids both serious punishment and a criminal record.

If that in itself was not enough reason to question the military’s ability to police itself, one need to only look at how this whole current scandal began to unfold.

On 2 February 2021, Global News reporter Mercedes Stephenson first reported allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against recently retired Chief of Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance.

Vance had just stepped down as Canada’s CDS, but he remains a serving four-star General. Vance’s successor as CDS, Admiral Art McDonald, announced an independent inquiry into the matter. In addition, military police launched an investigation into the allegations about Vance.

Then the second shoe dropped a short while later when the media were informed that Admiral McDonald was himself the subject of a military police investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.

By nightfall of the same day McDonald had stepped aside as CDS pending the outcome of that investigation.

This unprecedented set of circumstances has proven to be a bit of a head scratcher for military legal experts. No one is quite sure of what the process will be if either Vance or McDonald – or both – end up facing a court martial.

As the military is an autocratic top down authoritarian system, who would sit in judgement of Canada’s only two serving officers that have a full general rank?

The sad fact is that this troubling state of affairs at the most senior level has our allied militaries studying how Canada will handle this.

One would like to think that our military was attracting international attention for our professionalism rather than the fact that we have two top generals being investigated for sexual misconduct simultaneously. A world first.

The worst part of all is the fact that this could have been avoided if the Canadian military would have accepted the recommendations of the 1997 Somalia Inquiry Report Dishonoured Legacy. In their report the Commissioners advised DND to amend the National Defence Act in order to establish the Office of the Inspector General as an independent review body.

Nearly twenty-five years later this remains the only course of action which could restore trust in the military leadership.

ON TARGET: Senior Female Officer Quits the CAF in ‘Disgust’: LCol Eleanor Taylor

By Scott Taylor

Last week the Canadian military was dealt another blow on the sexual misconduct front when a senior female officer wrote that she was resigning from the forces in disgust.

In a letter to her Commanding Officer, LCol Eleanor Taylor requested an immediate release from the military.

“I am sickened by ongoing investigations of sexual misconduct among our key leaders,” wrote Taylor. “Unfortunately, I am not surprised. I am also certain that the scope of the problem has yet to be exposed.”

What makes Taylor’s resignation all the more damaging for the Canadian military institution is that she was one of their extraordinary role models.

Taylor served as an infantry officer for more than twenty-five years with combat tours in Kosovo and Afghanistan. In 2010 she became the first female to command an infantry company in combat while serving with the Royal Canadian Regiment in Kandahar.

At the time of issuing her request for release Taylor was serving as the Deputy Commander of 36 Canadian Brigade Group as a reservist.

“I am not encouraged that we are investigating our top officers. I am disgusted that it has taken so long to do so,” wrote Taylor.

This public condemnation of the Canadian military’s senior brass caps off a seven-week relentless media crap-storm of sexual misconduct allegations leveled at the CAF’s most senior leaders.

The result of this tempest has left the command structure in complete disarray and it has crushed morale among the rank and file.

To assist those readers who may have lost track of the many bouncing balls in this scandal, here is a brief recap.

On 2 February, Global News reporter Mercedes Stephenson broke the story that recently retired Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance was accused of sexual misconduct.

The two allegations against Vance involved him having a twenty year extramarital affair with a subordinate and an email allegedly sent by him in 2012, wherein he invited a junior soldier to join him on a clothing-optional beach vacation.

Vance denied the allegations.

If the saga ended at this juncture it would have been just a couple of anonymous accusers suggesting that the ex-CDS had character flaws as neither of the allegations against Vance were criminal in nature.

However, once it was learned that the Canadian Forces Ombudsman was aware of the nude beach invitation email and had tried to brief defence minister Harjit Sajjan about the situation in 2018, the scandal began to explode.

Opposition parties began demanding to know who-knew-what-when in the Trudeau Liberal government. Vance was placed under military police investigation and his successor as CDS, Admiral Art McDonald announced there would be a second independent investigation into the allegations.

As this was all starting to boil, Vance’s alleged long term mistress decided to go public with details of the affair.

In an interview with Stephenson on Global News, Kellie Brennan described the times and locations of her trysts with Vance, including having sex with him on the eve of him becoming CDS.

Brennan’s most shocking allegation was that after the story had first broken and while her identity was still not public, Vance had requested that she lie to the media about the sexual nature of the relationship,

To counter this burgeoning public relation’s black eye, CDS McDonald sent out a message on 25 February to all CAF personnel, advising them to come forward if they had knowledge of any additional sexual misconduct.

Come forward they did. Within hours of sending that message, the media were alerted to the fact that McDonald himself is under investigation for an alleged incident aboard HMCS Montreal that occurred back in 2010.

That same night McDonald stepped aside as CDS and Army Commander LGen Wayne Eyre temporarily assumed the top soldier post.

Then came news that LGen Chris Coates had an extramarital affair while he was stationed in Colorado as Deputy Commander of NORAD. That transgression is now preventing him from deploying to Naples, Italy as Canada’s NATO representative.

Up to bat next was Vice Admiral Haydn Edmundson who faced allegations of inappropriate behaviour with female subordinates  while a Lieutenant-Commander at CFB Esquimalt in the early 1990’s.

In her dramatic exit from the military, LCol Taylor said she is hoping that her actions will bring about real change in the culture.

For the sake of the institution, I hope she is right.

On the hopeful side, if any organization knows how to effect short term culture change it is the military. After all, ten weeks of recruit school converts civilians into soldiers.

ON TARGET: Military has come Full Circle on Sexual Misconduct

By Scott Taylor

For many casual observers of Canada’s military the recent deluge of media reports alleging sexual misconduct at the highest levels comes as a disturbing shock.

First it was the Feb. 2, 2021 Global News revelations that recently stepped down, but not yet retired from the military, former Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance had engaged in some inappropriate sexual behavior.

One of the allegations was that Vance had maintained an extra-marital affair with a junior officer dating back two decades and continuing through his tenure as Canada’s top soldier.

The second allegation involved a 2012 email sent from Vance’s military email address, wherein he invited a junior soldier to join him, then a major-general, on a clothing optional beach vacation.

During the initial media storm, Vance told Global News that he had dated the junior officer in 2000, while he was single. However, according to Vance, that relationship was no longer sexual in nature.

As for the 2012 email, Vance claims to have no recollection of sending such a missive. However, if he indeed did extend a nude beach invitation to a servicewoman, he suggested it would have been intended as a joke.

At that juncture of the developing story, it was Vance’s word against two anonymous accusers.

However, things did not stay that way for long. Global News reporter Mercedes Stephenson conducted an exclusive follow-up interview with Maj. Kellie Lynn Brennan on Feb. 21.

In that conversation Brennan alleged that the affair she had with General Vance was indeed of a sexual nature. She cited locations and timings of their trysts including having sex with Vance at his home on the eve of him delivering his incoming speech as Canada’s CDS in 2015.

What was far more alarming about Brennan’s comments during her interview was her allegation that once this story first broke, Vance had urged her to lie to the media about the sex. Brennan also claimed that after she was allegedly raped at CFB Wainwright, Alberta, Vance said he could take no action as he felt it might reveal their adulterous affair.

For the record, Vance has yet to publicly comment on Brennan’s allegations and he maintains that he has committed no sexual impropriety.

Which brings the bouncing ball back to the 2012 nude beach email. The recipient of that correspondence took her evidence to the Canadian Forces Ombudsman in 2018.

As the complainant did not want any formal action taken and wanted her identity protected, Ombudsman Gary Walbourne sought direction in this matter from Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan.

According to Walbourne’s recent testimony before a commons committee, Sajjan refused to actually look at the evidence in his hand.

In the world that is partisan politics we now find ourselves fixated on opposition parties clamouring to know who-knew-what-when amongst the Liberal government’s senior leadership.

However, the object of their fixation is a 2012 email between Vance and a junior subordinate which even the anonymous complainant did not wish to have formally pursued.

The initial bombshell dropped on Vance by Global’s Stephenson has since set off a chain reaction of explosive revelations among the senior brass.

On Feb. 24, Admiral Art McDonald, Vance’s successor, stepped aside as CDS pending the results of an investigation into a 2010 allegation of sexual impropriety.

Then there was the report that Lt.-Gen. Chris Coates will not be deployed to a NATO posting after it was revealed he had had an affair while on a NORAD posting.

Then last week CBC aired a report about allegations of past impropriety from the 1990s aimed at Vice Admiral Haydn Edmundson, head of Canadian military personnel.

Reeling from these morale-crushing news stories, it is being hinted to the media that DND is about to create a new, more independent investigative service.

Those of us old enough to remember will recall that in May 1998, Macleans magazine ran four weekly cover stories in a row detailing ‘Rape in the Military.’ Public outrage from those revelations led to the creation of an Ombudsman’s office.

In 2013 another series of media reports on sexual misconduct led to the commissioning of a report by former Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps.

The damaging findings of Deschamps’s reports were released in 2015 and she categorized the military as a highly masculine sexualized culture. To counter Deschamps’s findings the military appointed Jonathan Vance as CDS and had him spearhead Operation Honour, the full out effort to eliminate sexual misconduct in the ranks.

And that my friends, brings us full circle.

ON TARGET: The Military Sexual Misconduct Scandal Widens in Scope

By Scott Taylor

Last week the burgeoning military sexual misconduct scandal was highlighted by the appearance of former Canadian Forces Ombudsman Gary Walbourne before a parliamentary committee. In his testimony Walbourne claimed that in 2018 he had notified Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan of an allegation of sexual impropriety purportedly perpetrated by the then Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance.

According to Walbourne, when he offered to show Sajjan physical evidence of the allegation in  question the MND jumped back from the table like a scalded cat while muttering “no.”

Walbourne told the committee that he had gone to Sajjan to seek advice as to how to proceed with this difficult situation.

The origins of the complaint stemmed from a 2012 email sent from the Canadian Forces account of then MGen Vance to a female corporal. Allegedly the corporal had met Vance unofficially and asked him for some career advice. The email response from Vance’s account is alleged to have included an invitation for the corporal to join him on a clothing optional beach vacation.

Six years later, the corporal brought Vance’s email to the attention of Walbourne’s office. Apparently she did not want to bring a formal complaint against Vance – who was by now CDS – and for privacy reasons she did not want her identity revealed.

One can easily understand Walbourne’s dilemma. The office of the Ombudsman has no authority to investigate such matters - there was no formal complaint launched and the victim of the alleged impropriety wished to remain anonymous.

In his testimony Walbourne told the committee that by bringing this to the attention of Sajjan he expected the minister to “do his job,” not to “do nothing.”

However by Walbourne’s own admission, Sajjan did take almost immediate action by notifying Privy Council Office that the Ombudsman had some potentially damaging information about the CDS.

The next day Walbourne was called to the PCO and asked about the allegations against General Vance.

In order to protect the victim’s identity, as promised, Walbourne refused to provide details to PCO and they subsequently let the matter drop.

Sajjan also seems to have been content with having kicked the issue upstairs to PCO and deliberately not having seen any evil with his own eyes, considered the case closed. 

And so it was until Feb. 2, 2021 when Global News reporter Mercedes Stephenson unleashed her double-barreled blast of sexual impropriety allegations against Vance.

At that juncture, it was just two weeks since Vance had handed over the CDS post to his successor Admiral Art McDonald. He was however still serving out his retirement leave and still a four star general.

Since he was first appointed as CDS in 2015, Vance had been the leading figure in what the Canadian military dubbed Operation Honour, the Force’s wide effort to combat sexual misconduct.

In December 2020, Vance had renamed this initiative The Pathway to Dignity and Respect, and he was once again the figure head in the anti sexual misconduct campaign.

Thus the Global News revelations were still shocking even after Vance had stepped down.

In her Feb. 2 story Stephenson reported that Vance allegedly committed two separate transgressions. The first was that Vance had been involved in an affair with a junior officer which began in 2000 and continued through his tenure as CDS.

The second allegation revealed by Stephenson was the email invitation to the clothing optional beach vacation.

The whole affair took a political turn once it was revealed that the Ombudsman had given Sajjan a head’s up about the email back in 2018.

In the knee-jerk response of partisan politics, it was soon revealed that Vance had been investigated by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (NIS) in 2014 for an alleged extra-marital affair with a U.S. servicemember while they were both posted to NATO Headquarters in Naples, Italy.

The Conservatives accused the Liberals of knowing that Vance was a potential liability and doing nothing to remove him. While the Liberals in return say the Conservatives were aware of his alleged failings when they made him CDS. 

For his part, Vance has to date denied committing any sexual impropriety.

ON TARGET: Chaos & Confusion in DND’s Upper Echelon

By Scott Taylor

There is a classic scene in the 1996 Hollywood film Michael Collins wherein the newly appointed head of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) vows to bring the Collins-led Irish rebels to heel.

“There is a new regime in town and it starts now” the RUC leader vows to his officers. “What you need is a bit of Belfast efficiency.” To punctuate that last sentence the IRA detonate a car bomb that blows the RUC commander to smithereens.

I was reminded of that scene last Wednesday when newly appointed Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Art McDonald issued an email to all serving members and civilian workers at the DND.

McDonald’s message was intended to restore the rank and file’s trust in their senior military leadership’s ability to stamp out sexual misconduct and racism within the CAF. “Our institution can no longer put the burden of change and transformation on those affected by harassment, discrimination, or any form of misconduct. That burden must rest on us. All of us,” stated McDonald.

For anyone wishing to bring forward allegations of misconduct, McDonald assured them they can expect to be heard, supported and protected.  Although he failed to mention the need for “Belfast efficiency” it was at that moment that Admiral McDonald’s proverbial car bomb detonated.

Turns out that nearly a month earlier several service members had indeed gone forward to the military police’s National Investigation Service (NIS) with allegations that McDonald himself was involved in some alleged sexual misconduct.

Within hours of McDonald pushing the ‘send’ button on his mass email, the CBC and Ottawa Citizen were notified that the good admiral was under investigation.

To make things easier for the journalists to follow up this story, the whistleblowers were thoughtful enough to include the exact NIS case file number.

Around 3:00pm last Wednesday, the media did in fact start making inquiries at DND.

Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan issued a statement around 11:00 pm that same night confirming there was indeed an ongoing investigation. Sajjan also stated that in light of the circumstances, McDonald was “stepping aside” from his CDS post until the NIS probe is concluded.

To date the details of McDonald’s alleged transgression remain scarce. According to the victim and witnesses, the incident in question occurred in August 2010 aboard HMCS Montreal.

At the time the ship was participating in Operation NANOOK as part of a task force in the Arctic. At that juncture in his career, McDonald was a Captain (Navy) and was part of a VIP visitor group that included then CDS General Walt Natynczyk and Defence Minister Peter MacKay.

While it will likely be a challenge for the NIS detectives to investigate a more than decade-old cold case, in which alcohol is alleged to have been a contributing factor, it is the more recent timeline of events that has the potential for political and institutional fall-out.

Admiral McDonald took over as CDS from General Jonathan Vance on 14 January, 2021. Within two weeks, reporter Mercedes Stephenson at Global News broke the story that Vance had allegedly engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior.

One allegation was that Vance had an ongoing sexual affair with a junior officer beginning in 2000 and continuing until he became CDS.

The second allegation involved a 2012 email sent to a corporal, which suggested she join Vance on a clothing optional beach vacation.

Sajjan was notified about the concerns over Vance by Canadian Forces Ombudsman Gary Walbourne back in 2018.

At some point during the past few weeks as political opposition parties have been clamouring to find out who-knew-what-when about the General Vance situation, Sajjan was notified about McDonald and the Op NANOOK investigation.

We are told that while Sajjan only learned of the month-long NIS investigation shortly before last Wednesday, and that McDonald found out himself that same fateful day, the optics are not good.

Had the whistleblower not notified the Citizen and CBC of the investigation would McDonald have ‘stepped aside’ as CDS?

It is difficult to claim you ‘jumped’ to do the right thing if the whistleblower’s hand prints are clearly imprinted on your back.

Belfast efficiency at its best.

ON TARGET: The General Vance Saga Continues To Expand

By Scott Taylor

For General Jonathan Vance it seems that the hits just keep on coming these days.

On 14 January Vance stepped down from his post as Chief of Defence Staff after more than five years of service as Canada’s top soldier. After ceremoniously handing the reins of command to Admiral Art McDonald, Vance went into what is termed retirement leave to serve out his remaining days in uniform.

However, less than two weeks after his change of command parade, Mercedes Stephenson at Global National news dropped a bombshell on Vance.

Two bombshells to be precise, both alleging impropriety by the former CDS. The first allegation related to a female subordinate who claims to have had a relationship with Vance dating back to 2001, but which continued even during his tenure as CDS.

The second stemmed from a 2012 incident wherein Vance was alleged to have sent an email to a corporal inviting her to join him on a clothing optional beach vacation.

When the story broke Vance admitted to dating the subordinate twenty years ago noting that they were not in the same chain of command. He stated that while he maintained contact with this individual, their relationship was not sexual.

As for the contentious email Vance has said he has no recollection of sending it, but if he did it would have been intended as a joke for which he would now be willing to apologize.

Given a different set of circumstances that may have been the end of the saga: Allegations and denials in a ‘he said, she said’ situation.

However, Stephenson also reported that the email invitation to the clothing optional vacation had been brought to the attention of the Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman Gary Walbourne back in 2018. In turn, Walbourne reportedly advised Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. For his part Sajjan claims that he dutifully notified the proper authorities.

Stephenson’s reports also set in motion a flurry of activity among the senior military brass. Freshly minted CDS Admiral McDonald announced that the military will launch an independent investigation into the alleged actions of his predecessor.

A separate probe is to be conducted by the military Police’s National Investigation Service (NIS).

Smelling blood in the water, the Conservatives requested a House of Commons committee investigation into how MND Sajjan handled Walbourne’s information on Vance back in 2018.

As if things were not already messy enough for Vance, it was at this juncture that this rapidly unfolding news story took yet another turn.

It turns out that prior to being appointed CDS by the Harper Conservatives in 2015, Vance had already been investigated by the CFNIS. That case stemmed from an alleged affair with a U.S. service member who was Vance’s subordinate at the NATO Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy, according to multiple media reports.

Although the CFNIS investigation concluded that neither service charges nor criminal charges were warranted in this case, alarm bells should have been going off somewhere.

Back in 2015 just prior to Vance being named CDS, the Canadian military was reeling under a public relations crap-storm surrounding a recently released independent report on widespread sexual misconduct in the ranks.

The report was tabled by former Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps who, after a two-year nation wide investigation, concluded that the Canadian military was steeped in a highly masculine sexualized culture, wherein military leaders turned a blind eye to misconduct.

To correct this fault, the military planned to launch something called Operation Honour – an all out campaign to eliminate sexual misconduct. The face of this new broom sweeping clean was to be the incoming CDS.

While Vance had not been charged with any crime, the fact that his alleged actions in Naples had been investigated by the CFNIS should have given the Harper Conservatives some cause for concern. Perception may not be everything but it counts for a lot when you are talking about trust in the military leadership.

Heading into the commons committee investigation you have the Conservatives asking why the hell the Liberals didn’t act on Vance in 2018 and the Liberals saying if Conservatives knew he had faults, why didn’t they vett him out of the CDS post in the first place?

For his part, Vance is probably asking himself those same questions.