I am disappointed in the leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces. This disappointment is particularly poignant as we approach Remembrance Day, a time when we remember the great sacrifices made by our soldiers in the wars fought to safeguard our country and ensure that today we can live in one of the best countries in the world to raise a family.
Recently the Canadian Forces have been plagued by scandals and controversies at the highest level. I will not go into details because it is already a matter of public record. As a retired military myself, I am dismayed that the morale in the forces is at the lowest ebb, ever largely due to a lack of leadership and an unnecessary bending to undue political influences.
This effect was evident in the decisions made by the acting, and subsequently appointed Chief of Defence Staff, General Wayne Eyre during the Covid 19 pandemic.
In a recent article, Lee Berthiaume outlines an interesting and concerning situation in the Canadian Press, which does a credible job of outlining the current situation in the Canadian Forces decision-making process.
The commander of the Canadian Armed Forces was warned by his senior legal and medical advisers last year that requiring all troops to be vaccinated against COVID-19 was unnecessary; ?and that doing so "may not constitute a legal order."
The message was delivered to Chief of Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre in an August 2021 briefing note, two months before then defence minister Harjit Sajjan directed him to impose a vaccine requirement for all troops.
It is well understood that when soldiers are deployed in overseas missions it is necessary for the fighting troops to have their vaccination approved by Health Canada in order to maintain fighting capability. But not everybody in the army should be subject to this.
The Aug. 27, 2021, briefing note was presented to Eyre by then Maj.-Gen. Trevor Cadieu, who was one of the defence chief's strategic advisers at the time. As background, he was slated to become army commander, but retired after allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2022, he travelled to Ukraine to join the fight against the 2022 Russian war in Ukraine.
The briefing note was prepared "in close collaboration" with senior medical, legal, political and public affairs officers and it incorporated legal analysis from the Department of Justice.
The memo suggested a universal mandate was unnecessary to protect the health of the Canadian Armed Forces, given that more than 90 per cent of Armed Forces personnel were already vaccinated at that time.
The advisers also warned that Armed Forces members could try to push back against the vaccine mandate on safety grounds. At that time, Health Canada had authorized COVID-19 inoculations under a special interim order due to the emergency nature of the pandemic.
"Prior to full approval of the vaccines under Canada's Food and Drug Regulations, CAF members ordered to receive COVID-19 vaccination might argue that they are being ordered to accept a new and potentially dangerous medical substance into their body," the note said.
In their note, Eyre's advisers cited the case of former Sgt. Mike Kipling, who was charged in 1998 under Section 126 of the National Defence Act, which allows the military to charge members who "wilfully and without reasonable excuse" refuse an order to get a vaccine.
Kipling had been ordered to take an anthrax vaccine while serving in Kuwait, but refused because he considered the drug unsafe. The vaccine was unlicensed for use in Canada. A military judge eventually ruled in favour of Kipling, agreeing that his Charter rights were infringed. The Forces appealed and a new court martial was ordered, but the military decided to drop the proceedings.
Eyre was told military personnel who refused a vaccination order could be similarly charged under military law, but "there is a significant risk in ordering CAF members to accept COVID-19 vaccination, as it may not constitute a legal order."
The memo also said a mandate for the Armed Forces "would not only be punitive in nature, but would also be counter to the successful efforts made to date to encourage maximum voluntary uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine."
The advisers suggested the military share its voluntary approach with other federal departments as a "best practice."
The advisers concluded by expressing support for the federal government's intent to bring in a proof-of-vaccination policy, but again cautioned that the rollout would need "prudent planning" that kept in mind the challenges they described.
It should be mentioned that on Aug. 13, 2021, the Liberal government had announced a vaccine mandate for federal public servants, as well as workers and travellers in federally regulated transportation sectors.
It is also well known that Canadian Forces members are not federal public servants. Anyway, Eyre first ordered all Armed Forces members to attest they had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 on Oct. 6, 2021.
Afterwards, rather than charging those who refused to comply, the military forced about 300 non-compliant Armed Forces members out of uniform using an administrative process called a 5F release that declares them unfit for service.
About 100 troops have left voluntarily. Hundreds more had permanent censures put on their files.
Outside the military, however, most federal employees were allowed to go on leave without pay and returned to their positions after the mandate was suspended in June this year.
The Armed Forces' vaccination policy does allow exemptions for medical reasons, religious beliefs or any other grounds of discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act, to be determined on a case-by-case basis. In late April, a parliamentary committee heard that more than 1,300 members had requested exemptions, but nearly 1,000 had been denied.
So Eyre had the power "to order everyone to be vaccinated. Full stop. Then if they did not want to be vaccinated, they had to come up with a reasonable excuse at court martial but the senior leadership including the Chief of Defence Staff Gen Wayne Eyre wanted to avoid that at all cost, in order to look good to their patrons.
These latest facts illustrate that today, the military is trying to punish soldiers without involving the courts, so there are legitimate questions about the legality of the vaccine order.
Eyre and his office have not said exactly why that decision was made. His office said in a statement that "administrative measures and the administrative review process was considered the most appropriate approach."
Asked if the decision to avoid the courts was the result of concerns about the legality of his order, General Wayne Eyre said that while Minister Sajjan directed him to include the Armed Forces in the broader federal government's mandate, "I was in agreement at that time, I issued the order. … Make no mistake, it's my order."
Nice attitude… Just wondering why, we have a recruiting crisis in the military now, and a record number of soldiers retiring, while the world is becoming more and more dangerous?
Let's have real leadership restored to the Canadian Forces.
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