General charged with sexual assault assigned to adviser role
Will compile lessons from vaccine rollout
Maj.-gen. Dany Fortin, facing a charge of sex assault, will work on developing lessons learned from the military’s vaccine rollout mission.
Fortin has been temporarily assigned at National Defence headquarters, filling “a supernumerary position as senior adviser to Commander Canadian Joint Operations Command,” according to the Department of National Defence. That assignment started Aug. 12.
The DND declined to provide further details, citing privacy considerations.
But sources told the Ottawa Citizen that Fortin is working on compiling lessons learned from Operation Vector, the Canadian Forces vaccine distribution mission.
Starting Nov. 27, 2020, Fortin served as the Public Health Agency of Canada’s vice-president of logistics and operations, leading the federal government’s vaccine rollout. Fortin left that assignment on May 14, the same day the Canadian Forces issued a statement announcing that he was under police investigation.
The major general surrendered himself to Gatineau police on Wednesday to answer an arrest warrant in connection with a sexual assault charge. Fortin said he has been kept in the dark and has not been provided with details about the alleged offence. “This fight against an invisible foe has been the hardest of my career,” he said.
Fortin’s legal team has been told the alleged incident took place between Jan. 1 and April 30, 1988. Fortin has denied any wrongdoing.
Fortin has challenged the federal government’s decision to end his secondment to the vaccine task force. In an affidavit sworn on July 13, Fortin said the government’s decision to remove him from the job and announce that there was investigation had been devastating to his reputation and career.
His lawyers argue the process was unfair and was done for political purposes. “The decision was arbitrary, not in the public interest and made solely for the personal and political gain of the Ministers of Health and National Defence and the Prime Minister,” Fortin’s legal team noted in previously filed court documents.
The court documents noted that Fortin was told April 19 by the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service that it was looking into one allegation of sexual misconduct made against him.
Fortin is among a group of generals and other senior officers who have either come under investigation or who have had to step down from their positions in the past several months.
Chief of the Defence Staff Adm. Art Mcdonald voluntary stepped aside Feb. 24 from that job after being put under military police investigation. The CFNIS did not find evidence to support the misconduct allegation and Mcdonald’s lawyers announced earlier this month that he was returning to the job of CDS even though the Liberal government noted it was still reviewing his case. Mcdonald is still on leave.
Mcdonald’s predecessor, Gen. Jon Vance, was also placed under military police investigations because of allegations of sexual misconduct. He has been charged with one count of obstruction of justice. Vance denies any wrongdoing.
Vice Adm. Haydn Edmundson left his position as head of military personnel after being accused of sexual assault of a subordinate. The incident, reported to have taken place in 1991, is under military police investigation. Edmundson has denied any wrongdoing.