Sajjan aide emailed ombudsman on allegations
OTTAWA • A newly released email appears to support former military ombudsman Gary Walbourne’s assertion that he told Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan about an allegation of sexual misconduct against then-defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance three years ago.
The brief email was sent by Zita Astravas, who at the time was Sajjan’s chief of staff, to Walbourne on March 5, 2018. That was four days after Walbourne says he notified the defence minister of the allegation against the military’s top commander during a “hostile” meeting.
Referring to a conversation between Walbourne and an official at the Privy Council Office, Astravas wrote: “I trust that you raised the allegations relating to the GIC appointment that you raised with the minister.”
Governor-in-council appointments, or GICS, are senior appointments made by the federal cabinet. While Astravas did not include any other details about the nature of the allegation or whom it concerned, the chief of the defence staff is such an appointment.
The email was obtained by The Canadian Press through access-to-information law. Asked Thursday whether the allegation in question was against Vance, or whether he raised allegations against any other GIC appointee to the minister, Walbourne would only say: “I believe this was covered in my testimony.”
Walbourne testified to the House of Commons’ defence committee Wednesday about his closed-door meeting with Sajjan on March 1, 2018. The former ombudsman said he told Sajjan about an allegation that had been made against Vance.
Walbourne told the committee Sajjan declined to look at supporting evidence and instead referred the matter to the Privy Council Office, the department that supports the prime minister and cabinet.
The former ombudsman said Sajjan referred the issue to the PCO despite his request to the minister to keep the matter confidential. On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested Sajjan did the right thing and that without more details, there was nothing else that could be done with the allegation.
“The ombudsperson did not provide sufficient information to the officials in place to be able to follow up on these allegations, but that is something that we will always try to work through in a responsible way,” Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa.
Trudeau also said he “only became aware of specific allegations” involving Vance through the reporting done by Global News.
Walbourne refused to give the committee any details about the allegation he raised in the meeting, citing his duty to preserve confidences.
But Global News has reported that it was about a sexually suggestive email Vance allegedly sent to a much more junior military member in 2012, before he became defence chief.