Senior military officer charged with sexual assault

A senior military officer has been charged with sexually assaulting two other service members while he was commander of a Quebec-based artillery unit three years ago.

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service said Monday that the service members were allegedly assaulted in separate incidents at CFB Valcartier between September and December 2014.

Col. Jean-francois Duval, a 29-year veteran of the Forces who was commander of the 5th Canadian Light Artillery Regiment at the time of the alleged attacks, has been charged with two counts of sexual assault.

Navy Lt. Blake Patterson, a military police spokesman, would not provide further details Monday about the alleged incidents, including the relationship between Duval and the two service members.

But defence officials confirmed that he is the highest-ranking officer to be charged with sexual assault since Gen. Jonathan Vance ordered an immediate end to all sexual misconduct in the military in August 2015.

“Rank has no meaning for this,’’ Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Monday of the military’s commitment to eliminating inappropriate sexual behaviour.

“We’ll be working extremely aggressively as we move forward. And we want anybody in the Canadian Armed Forces, if they’ve been affected, to come forward, so that we can investigate and take serious action on this.’’

Duval has also been charged with one count of indecent acts, two counts of scandalous conduct, two counts of disgraceful conduct in relation to two alleged incidents involving the same service members.

One of the incidents occurred at CFB Valcartier between 2009 and 2010, officials said, and the second was between September and December 2014, but otherwise would not provide more detail.