No ban for cadet in Qur’an desecration

OTTAWA • An officer cadet facing expulsion from the Canadian Forces for desecrating a Qur’an is being allowed to continue his studies at the Royal Military College in Saint-Jean, Que., but another student is still fighting to remain in uniform. The two officer cadets are among three first-year students who were ordered expelled after defiling the Muslim holy book with bacon and what sources have said was semen, during a cottage party last spring.

One left the college and military but the other two appealed the decision. Chief of military personnel Lt.-Gen. Charles Lamarre says after officials took a second look they determined there wasn’t enough evidence to uphold the decision to expel one of them.

He and five others who were at the cottage when the Qur’an was desecrated can stay at the military college but have been issued written warnings, ordered to take counselling and put on probation.

“They’re undergoing some pretty close scrutiny to ensure that the desired change to their behaviour has occurred and continues to occur,” Lamarre said.

The student still appealing his release isn’t at the college but Lamarre says military officials are reviewing the case and will make a decision on whether or not to expel him soon. “Does it mean that perhaps he could be reinstated in the Canadian Armed Forces?” Lamarre said in an interview. “Potentially. But we are pretty sure about the investigations we’ve done on this.”

The Qur’an desecration occurred when eight students from the SaintJean college headed out of town to a cottage during the Easter weekend. At one point, four went to sleep while the others stayed up and recorded the incident. Military commanders became aware of what happened after videos of the incident were shown to other students who subsequently told college staff, at which point an investigation was ordered.

Sources tell The Canadian Press the investigation was hampered because the video was destroyed. Lamarre previously has said it was fortunate that the footage was never posted to social media. Desecrating a Qur’an is considered blasphemous by Muslims and has sparked violent protests in recent years. The incident coincided with efforts by senior commanders to make the Forces more diverse and inclusive.

The Canadian military is conducting operations in several Muslim-majority countries, notably Mali and Iraq. Thousands of angry Afghans tried to storm the U.S. military base at Bagram in February 2012 when American forces burned hundreds of Qur’ans that had been used by Taliban prisoners. At least 41 people were killed, including several U.S. soldiers who were shot by Afghan National Army counterparts.