National Post (National Edition)
Allegations had DND scrambling
Defence officials scrambled to deal with sexual misconduct allegations by trying to promote a non-existent initiative as well as creating a warning system about incoming access to information requests.
As allegations of sexual misconduct were levelled against top leaders in the Canadian Forces, a small army of bureaucrats and military officers monitored social media posts about the issue and crafted a “strategic narrative” designed to counter the negative publicity, according to documents obtained by Postmedia News.
One initiative to be highlighted as part of the public-relations strategy was the decision by Parliament in June 2019 to approve the creation of a bill of rights for military victims. But the Department of National Defence never followed through with that bill of rights and still hasn't.
The strategic narrative also had messages for use by Canadian Forces personnel when they talked to the news media. If a journalist was to point out that many people were skeptical about the Canadian military's willingness and ability to address sexual misconduct, the response was supposed to be: “Our actions over the past six years clearly demonstrate our resolve on the issue.”
Over the past 11 months, the Canadian military has been rocked with allegations of sexual misconduct against a growing number of senior leaders. Some police investigations are still ongoing.
The documents obtained by Postmedia News reflect initial efforts by National Defence to deal with allegations made against retired chief of the defence staff Gen. Jon Vance as well as his successor, Adm. Art McDonald.
Vance was charged in July with one count of obstruction of justice. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Military police investigated McDonald, but stated they did not find evidence to support laying charges. McDonald recently conducted a public-relations campaign claiming he had been exonerated by military police and because of that he should be brought back to lead the Canadian Forces. In response to those claims, police issued a statement that, although no charges had been laid because of insufficient evidence, that did not mean the allegation against the admiral was unfounded.
The crisis also prompted senior staff at National Defence's Access to Information
branch to put in place a warning system designed to alert Deputy Minister Jody Thomas whenever a member of the public or news media filed a request on Vance or other sexual misconduct cases.
Under the access law, Canadians can request government records for a fee.
On March 4, Deirdra Finn, director of the access branch, provided information for Thomas outlining specific details on four requests from members of the media and three from members of the public. She also reported that, by that point, there were 12 access requests received on sexual misconduct topics.
Thomas's office was particularly interested in the release of the military police report into Vance's alleged conduct while the general was serving with NATO in Italy. But the briefing for her provided the reassurance that most of the file sent out under the access law had been censored.
Thomas's office would also be provided with specific release dates for each request, according to an email sent by Finn to her boss, Joanne Lostracco.
The names of those who submitted the requests were kept anonymous, but they were classified as being either members of the public or the news media.
The documents outlining the DND response to sexual misconduct were obtained using the access law, but the records were censored.
To deal with the ongoing crisis, the strategic messaging also recommended that Canadian Forces officials highlight Operation Honour, the 2015 initiative to stamp out sexual misconduct. That strategy continued even though the defence department's social media monitoring team concluded Operation Honour had little credibility because it was initiated by Vance, who was himself facing allegations.
Of particular concern to defence officials was that former Canadian Forces Ombudsman Gary Walbourne might be called by the Commons national defence committee to testify. Thomas emailed a justice department lawyer assigned to DND regarding the “Instructions requested — Walbourne potential appearance.” That prompted a flurry of emails between military lawyers, senior staff and public affairs officials.
Those documents are almost entirely censored.
Walbourne did testify in front of the Commons committee a short time later, saying then Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan ignored allegations of sexual misconduct against Vance.