Military launches probe to decide fate of Maj.-Gen. Fortin’s career after sexual assault acquittal | 24CA News
The Department of National Defence (DND) says Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the senior navy commander who as soon as led Canada’s vaccine rollout, nonetheless has a job after being acquitted of sexual assault.
A Quebec choose dominated earlier this month that whereas he believed the complainant was sexually assaulted in 1988 on the Royal Military College Saint-Jean in Quebec, he wasn’t satisfied past an inexpensive doubt that the assailant was Fortin.
“Major-General D. Fortin was appointed to a new position as senior adviser to Commander Canadian Joint Operations Command, in Ottawa,” the Canadian Forces acknowledged on Dec.15, greater than every week after Fortin’s acquittal.
That place is identical one Fortin was given after he was dropped from his job main Canada’s nationwide vaccine supply operation on the Public Health Agency of Canada within the spring of 2021, shortly after the sexual assault allegation got here to mild.
The navy says the brand new message is supposed to formalize that place.
According to Fortin’s spokesperson, he stays in “limbo” with no assigned work and is now the topic of a compulsory administrative assessment to find out his destiny within the Canadian Armed Forces.
That administrative assessment is predicated on a burden of proof simpler to satisfy than the one employed in legal trials, says an professional in navy legislation.
‘Tantamount to double jeopardy’
The navy’s administrative assessment course of will resolve — primarily based on what the navy calls a “balance of probabilities” — if it is extra seemingly than not that the alleged sexual assault came about.
The Canadian Armed Forces additionally should resolve if something Fortin has accomplished violates “professional standards” or calls into query “the viability of a CAF member’s continued service,” says a navy order on the DND web site.
Conviction in legal court docket requires proof past an inexpensive doubt {that a} crime was dedicated.
WATCH/ Judge acquits Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin of sexual assault cost
A choose has acquitted Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, who as soon as led Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, of 1 rely of sexual assault following a trial this fall. Fortin says he’s now planning his subsequent authorized transfer, saying his profession was derailed by a scarcity of due course of.
Fortin’s spokesperson mentioned the assessment could be carried out by his commanding officer, Vice-Admiral Bob Auchterlonie. The spokesperson mentioned the method might quantity to “double jeopardy,” the place an accused particular person is tried once more on the identical or related expenses after an acquittal.
“The administrative review constitutes a process whereby an individual who has been found not guilty by a court of law can then be found to be guilty of the same alleged offence based on the lesser legal standard of “‘a steadiness of possibilities,'” said the spokesperson, who asked not to be identified to avoid online reprisals.
Fortin’s commanding officer is expected to obtain the criminal court transcripts, the judge’s decision and the military police investigation case file, according to a miltiary directive.
Balance of probabilities easier to prove: expert
Retired colonel Michel Drapeau, a military law expert, said “every little thing is less complicated to show on a steadiness of possibilities.”
He said that while Fortin and his family have gone through a “public, exhaustive legal court docket course of,” it’s disappointing but not surprising that the military is conducting an administrative review because it’s “pedantically following their very own rule.”
“The outcomes will certainly be to additional alienate … Fortin and undermine his capability to successfully return to the senior ranks,” Drapeau told 24CA News. “Regrettably, this isn’t omen for his anticipated re-instatement within the basic officer corps.”
This is believed to be the first administrative review involving a general officer since the current military sexual misconduct crisis began in 2021, leading to an unprecedented number of senior officers being sidelined from prestigious posts over sexual misconduct allegations.
WATCH/ Military sexual misconduct investigations should move to criminal courts, Arbour says
In a new report, former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour says the Canadian military should permanently move sexual offence investigations into civilian criminal courts, citing past mismanagement of sexual misconduct allegations and an overall resistance to change.
The government tasked retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour with reviewing the crisis. Her report, released in May, found that out of 290 administrative reviews of sexual misconduct between 2015 and August 2021, none involved the conduct of general and flag officers.
Arbour said during her review she “repeatedly heard frustration about administrative motion for sexual misconduct” from people who didn’t trust the process because it wasn’t transparent and took too long.
The administrative review process, Arbour found, took on average 328 days to render a decision.
No decisions about potential postings yet, says DND
Fortin’s spokesperson said he’s a “lengthy methods away from a decision” and Arbour’s report contained recommendations that could add additional steps to the process.
DND did not confirm the administrative review was underway, citing privacy concerns. DND spokesperson Daniel Le Bouthillier said the military is following “established processes” and “whereas this takes place, all concerned members would have entry to any help we will present.”
No decisions about Fortin’s “potential postings have been made,” mentioned Le Bouthillier.
Fortin can also be difficult his elimination from his function on the Public Health Agency of Canada in Federal Court. A date for his attraction has not been set.
