Top soldier denies knowing of allegations before police
Email, alleged sexual misconduct victim tell a different story
Canada’s top soldier and his officials were informed about sexual misconduct allegations almost two months before military police began their investigation into the army’s new commander, according to a document and interviews conducted by The Ottawa Citizen.
Despite allegedly knowing of the allegation, Acting Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre confirmed Trevor Cadieu as the new army commander following the approval of Cadieu’s promotion to lieutenant general on Aug. 8.
In a statement to The Citizen, the Department of National Defence said Eyre only found out about the allegations against Cadieu when he was informed by military police on Sept. 5.
But the alleged victim, as well as an email from Cadieu himself, tell a different story.
In an email sent to his alleged victim on July 11, Cadieu writes that Eyre had been informed by other officers about the allegations. “The CDS can’t ignore what he’s been told,” Cadieu wrote to the woman, a former Canadian Forces member. “Naturally, as painful as it is to write this, the CDS needs to makes (sic) decisions about my ability to continue to serve.”
Cadieu asked the woman if she would be willing to meet him in what he called a “facilitated engagement.”
“I’m not looking to challenge your claim,” Cadieu wrote to the woman. “It would allow me to acknowledge what you’ve endured and any harm I’ve caused in your life.”
In an interview with the Citizen, the alleged victim said she had been trying to move on with her life and originally had no intention to go to military police.
But when the alleged victim received the unsolicited messages from Cadieu and from another officer questioning
what she intended to do about the allegations, she said she felt bullied and decided to contact an official in Eyre’s office. According to the alleged victim, that was done July 14 in a phone call that lasted several hours involving an official in Eyre’s office. The woman said her intention at that time was not to file a formal complaint against Cadieu but to raise her concerns about the officer since he was being considered as the new army commander.
The alleged victim later learned that Eyre was proceeding anyways to install Cadieu as the new head of the army. As a result, the woman went to the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service on Sept. 4 to provide a statement and file a complaint against Cadieu.
The woman and her family have asked they not be identified for fear of retribution. There have been comments posted online about her mental state and her alleged motives. Similar comments have been made during official meetings at the Department of National Defence (DND) headquarters, The Citizen has confirmed through multiple defence sources.
The Canadian Forces and
DND insist that Eyre was never informed of any issues about Cadieu until his meeting with military police in September. “Furthermore, any implication of a lack of action is false,” the Canadian Forces noted in its statement. “In fact, when he was briefed on allegations on 5 Sep, (Eyre) immediately took action, postponing the change of command to allow for an investigation and due process to occur, and informed MND (the minister of national defence).”
Cadieu has denied any wrongdoing.
The CFNIS have said the investigation centres on “historical allegations.”
In an email sent to Cadieu, The Citizen asked the lieutenant general to comment on his July 11 message to the alleged victim in which he informed her the chief of the defence chief had been told of the allegations. In addition, Cadieu was asked to comment on his message to the alleged victim that he had no intention of challenging her claim.
Cadieu responded to The Citizen that, “the information in your email to me contains inaccuracies and, to the best of my knowledge, is unrelated to the allegation that the
NIS is investigating, which I learned about on September 5, 2021. At this time, it is important for all involved to respect the investigative procedures and allow due process to occur.”
The woman said she felt betrayed after the Canadian Forces and the DND distributed Cadieu’s statement to national news outlets in which he denied any wrongdoing. She took that as the military and DND leadership officially indicating their support for the lieutenant general despite an ongoing investigation.
When asked about its distribution of Cadieu’s statement of denial to the news media, DND acknowledged that “in hindsight, it was the wrong decision.”
In his statement to journalists, Cadieu said although the allegations being made against him are false, “they must be investigated thoroughly to expose the truth.”
“I know that these false claims will, as intended, create doubts about my ability to lead in this environment,” he added. Cadieu noted he has voluntarily provided information to the CFNIS and intends to co-operate fully with their investigation.