Brigadier-General Krista Brodie, who heads Canadian Armed Forces recruitment and training, continues to wrestle with a 16,000-member shortfall in the Regular and Reserve forces. She also says the CAF faces a relevancy problem because general public awareness of their role has diminished. Vacancies in urgent need of filling include medical officers, naval operators, aviation specialists, communications, and technical tradespeople. [node:read-more:link]
Micheline Pollock, a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist who pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Army and Navy in connection with her Dubai-headquartered company’s construction projects in Africa, has been sentenced to time served and ordered to pay nearly $7.2 million in restitution. Arrested in Tbilisi, Georgia, in September 2020, she was extradited almost immediately and, after her grand jury indictment, was held pending trial. [node:read-more:link]
January 15 is the deadline for current and former Canadian Armed forces personnel stationed in Valcartier, Quebec, between 1995 and 2000 to apply to join a class-action lawsuit over contaminated water supplies. Claimants are eligible for up to $1,000 for each month they lived at the base where trichloroethylene, a carcinogenic degreasing agent, had leaked into groundwater over several decades [node:read-more:link]
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said today that the "partial mobilisation" of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine was complete, with 82,000 already deployed and that “no further measures are planned.” The remaining 218,000 were evidently in training and Shoigu said any further recruitment would be limited to volunteers and professional troops [node:read-more:link]
Gregory Lick, the Canadian Armed Forces ombudsman, says the Department of National Defence continues to miss the mark in its treatment of ill and injured Reserves personnel and the Canadian Rangers. Nine serious shortcomings were identified by his office during four investigations between 2015 and 2017, but Lick reported today that recommended improvements have not been fully implemented. [node:read-more:link]
The death of Queen Elizabeth II has forced postponement of this year’s Canada Army Run, scheduled for September 18. The increasingly popular event in Ottawa, which raises funds for programs for ill and injured military personnel and their families, now is set for November 6. [node:read-more:link]
After videos surfaced during the weekend of Canadian and U.S. flags being draped over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and someone bowing his head, Defence Minister Anita Anand has labelled the action “desecration.” It has resulted in renewed calls for tighter security at the National War Memorial but neither Anand nor Veterans Affairs Minister addressed that issue. [node:read-more:link]
Royal Canadian Navy reservist and independent Toronto MP Kevin Vuong, elected as a Liberal in the 2019 general election, faces a military summary trial today on a charge of failing to disclose that he had been charged with sexual assault in 2019. The trial on a charge of “conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline” is being conducted by Captain Etienne Landry, the reserve’s deputy commander. [node:read-more:link]
The National Capital Commission is suing a former Army reservist, Corey Hurren, for $350,000 to cover the cost of repairing the gate to Government House he damaged three years ago. The NCC also is seeking $100,000 in punitive and exemplary damages from Hurren, who is serving a six-year sentence less time served. [node:read-more:link]
A Canadian Army reservist has been notified that he once again faces a court martial for criticizing federal coronavirus measures while in uniform and later leading a protest march to Ottawa. His lawyer says WO James Topp, charged in February with two counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline, originally faced a military trial but that offer was rescinded and his case was referred to unit commanders only to have that reversed. [node:read-more:link]
Patrik Mathews, a former Canadian Army reservist from Manitoba, was sentenced today in a Maryland court to nine years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for U.S. authorities said was his participation in a neo-Nazi plot to instigate a race war. Under investigation by the RCMP, Mathews crossed into the U.S. and was missing for several months before his arrest in January 2020. [node:read-more:link]
Patrick Jordan Mathews, a former Canadian military reservist, faces a sentencing hearing in a Maryland court Oct. 28 for his involvement in a plot to murder a Virginia politician and break a murderer out of prison. The former Manitoba resident and U.S. Army veteran Brian Mark Lemley have pleaded guilty and another co-defendent was sentenced to five years in December for helping Mathews to enter the U.S. illegally. [node:read-more:link]
Kevin Vuong, a navy reservist who had been running as a Liberal candidate in the Toronto riding of Spadina-Fort York in the Sept. 20 federal election, won the seat despite being dumped by the party after it was disclosed that he had been charged with sexual assault several years ago. The charge was eventually dropped but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the party’s decision was “the right thing to do.” Vuong is expected to sit as an Independent MP. [node:read-more:link]
A declassified intelligence report says far-right extremists are “actively recruiting” past and present members of the Canadian military and police. Six of 17 situations reviewed in several countries involved Canadians cases in which “xenophobic and anti-government/anti-authority violent extremist groups openly recruit current and former military and law enforcement personnel.” [node:read-more:link]
Preliminary results of an RCMP investigation indicate that the CAF reservist who breached security at Government House last July wanted to see Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrested. Corey Hurren, a Manitoba member of the Canadian Rangers, faces 22 criminal charges. [node:read-more:link]
