The sexual assault trial of a high-ranking military commander who once led Canada’s vaccine rollout begins today in Quebec.
Maj. Gen. Danny Fortin is expected to attend the two-day trial in Gatineau court wearing his military uniform and medals.
Fortin has pleaded not guilty to the sexual assault charge, which is related to an incident that allegedly occurred sometime between January 1 and April 30, 1988, when Fortin was a student at the Royal Military College Saint Jean.
A Quebec judge is hearing the case without a jury at Fortin’s request. Trials themselves are faster.
Dressed in his uniform and with his wife by his side, Fortin gave an emotional statement to reporters outside the Gatineau police station on the day he was charged in 2021. Fortin told reporters that his family had been experiencing a “nightmare”..”
Fortin also claimed the federal government removed him from his top job on the vaccine rollout in the spring of 2021 because of “political calculations” when the ongoing military sexual behavior crisis dominated headlines last year.
Canada’s military has been rocked by a series of allegations of sexual misconduct. Since February 2021, more than a dozen current and former senior Canadian military leaders have been suspended, investigated, criminally charged or forced to retire from some of the most powerful and prestigious positions in the defense establishment.
Former Defense Chief of Staff General Jonathan Vance pleaded guilty in March to one count of obstruction of justice.
Vice Admiral Hayden Edmondson’s criminal trial is scheduled for August 2023. Edmondson, the former military chief of human resources, is charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of lewdness, charges Edmondson denies.
MEDIA/ Military commander accused of sexual abuse says living in ‘nightmare’
Danny Fortin, accused of sexual assault, says he is living a ‘nightmare’
Maj. Gen. Danny Fortin speaks to the media outside a Gatineau, Que., police station about a sexual assault charge he is facing. He denied any wrongdoing.
Fortin has served in the Canadian Armed Forces for more than 36 years and claims his reputation has been “irreparably tarnished” by the government’s handling of his case.
Fortin gained national attention during the pandemic as he appeared regularly on government television news about COVID-19 alongside senior ministers and health officials.
In May 2021, the Department of National Defense (DND) issued a brief public statement announcing that Fortin was leaving his post at the Public Health Agency of Canada; the statement does not say why. CBC News confirmed that day that Fortin was the subject of a military investigation on a sex crime charge.
The following week, the military police branch said it had referred the case to Fortin of the civil prosecutors of Quebec. Fortin was indicted about three months later on one count of sexual assault.
Before the criminal charges, Fortin launched a legal battle in Federal Court in 2021 to request a job in accordance with his rank and experience, arguing politicians improperly intervened in his case. Chief of Defense Staff General Wayne Ayer a notebook that was presented to the Federal Court describes weeks of intense discussions at the highest levels of government on how to handle the charge against Fortin.
Lawyers for the federal government said last year in Federal Court that Canadian officials feared the public could lose confidence in releasing a vaccine in Canada if they learned Fortin was under investigation for sexual abuse allegations. But there was never any political interference in the decision to remove him from his role, according to the government’s legal team.
Maj. Gen. Danny Fortin regularly sat alongside Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam and federal ministers on Parliament Hill to provide updates on the COVID-19 pandemic. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
The Federal Court ruled last year that the military grievance process was the appropriate avenue for handling Fortin’s claim and said he had not taken full advantage of that mechanism.
Fortin’s lawyers ever since appealed this decision, arguing that the military grievance process is the wrong place because it takes too long to process cases. CBC News reported last year that some military personnel have waited almost a decade to see their grievances resolved.
That appeal is scheduled for the Federal Court of Appeals on Oct. 5, according to Fortin’s legal team.
Fortin was appointed on an interim basis to the position of Senior Advisor to the Commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command in Ottawa. Fortin’s lawyers say he is sitting at home and not being assigned any work.
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