Fake soldier ‘sorry’ for his disrespect
Gervais gets one year probation, 50 hours of community service
In an act of penance, the man who impersonated a decorated soldier on Remembrance Day quietly toured the national war cemetery on Saturday, kneeling at each of the nine graves of Afghanistan veterans. Franck Gervais, 33, placed a poppy on each grave and paused to remember their ultimate sacrifice. He read their names, ages and cause of death.
He had honoured them in the worst way on the military’s most sacred day, and the tour of the war cemetery was a first step at fully understanding that medals of valour don’t come from a store.
On Tuesday, Gervais was spared jail and given a suspended sentence, one year probation and ordered to do 50 hours of community service.
Gervais pleaded guilty earlier this year to unlawfully wearing a uniform and medals — including one for bravery — that he bought online.
At his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Gervais, 33, wiped away tears, took full responsibility and apologized.
“I am truly saddened I hurt the people I admire the most,” said Gervais.
He told court he was trying to honour our war dead, not disrespect them. “I now realize the frustration and insult … I’m sorry for disrespecting the true heroes. I can assure I will never do something like this again.”
Gervais, a carpenter who lives in Cantley, Que., pleaded guilty in March to two counts of unlawfully wearing a military uniform and medals.
His tour of the war cemetery came after staff with Ottawa’s collaborative justice program introduced him to a veteran who took him on a two-and-a-half-hour tour of the cemetery. Retired major Gerry Wharton, 80, told court that the restorative justice program was “mutually instructive”.
In a victim-impact statement Wharton wrote a month ago, before meeting Gervais, the soldier said: “He made mock of those hundreds of thousands of young Canadians who have earned the right to proudly wear the uniform of the Canadian Armed Forces.”
But Wharton then told court that after the cemetery tour, he was left with the impression that Gervais had no malicious intent.
At the end of the tour, Wharton invited Gervais to place a poppy on each of the nine Royal Canadian Regiment Afghanistan graves. (Gervais wore an RCR uniform on Nov. 11 at the War Memorial and later when he told bogus stories about his Medal of Bravery over at the War Museum).
Gervais was a cadet in the 1990s, and the fact that he didn’t make the grade for regular forces was long a source of frustration.
As a child growing up in France, Gervais admired the Canadian soldiers and court heard that he wanted to become one.
When that dream fizzled, he bought a uniform and pretended to be one on the military’s most sacred day.
The suspended sentence pronounced by Ontario Court Justice Ann Alder was a joint position filed by Crown prosecutor Mark Moors and defence counsel Claude Levesque.
Alder noted that Gervais’s early guilty plea and public apology were mitigating factors. In the aggravating column, Alder noted the location of his crime while the nation was “still in a state of shock and mourning” over the murder of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, who was killed while guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the memorial.
Brig.-Gen. Steven Whelan filed a statement saying Gervais wasn’t a criminal and didn’t deserve to spend a night in jail.
“While many Canadian Armed Forces members were initially dismayed at Mr. Gervais’s blatant disregard of his country’s men and women in uniform, that disappointment has subsided somewhat and instead been replaced with regret and embarrassment for him,” Whelan said.
“We are aware that in his mind he felt that portraying a soldier in uniform was an homage of sorts that was comparable to imitation as a form of flattery ... We know this episode has brought great strain and shame to his family, his personal and professional relationships, and in no way do we wish any punitive actions that would be disproportionate to his conduct. We believe he has learned a valuable lesson and as a result will be a staunch proponent of the Canadian Armed Forces using this unfortunate event as an inspiration to support our troops.”