The "Untouchable" Chief of Defence Staff

"I was not to mention certain things about our relationships, our personal lives. The consequences were always the same -- that I had to stay silent."

"Definitely, he gave me very many consequences if I was not following his orders."

"He fathered two children to me."

"I definitely feel like there will not be justice for me, and that’s OK because if my coming forward can change everything for other women to come forward and change our policies, that's OK with me."

"I was first in the infantry when we were allowed to join, and I knew I was taking a hard road."

"Women are often looked down on, or shuffled out of positions quickly if they speak the truth. The guilt women feel also puts them in a prison, where they are made to feel shame, and that's by the very institution that they're committed to serve, and still want to serve."

Major Kellie Brennan, Canadian Armed Forces

Maj. Kellie Brennan told the House of Commons status of women committee on Thursday that she was subject to unfair power imbalances throughout her years with the Canadian Armed Forces.

For years there have been allegations that the Canadian military is rife with sexual harassment. Pledges were made on the part of Ministers of National Defense, of the heads of the military, that the situation would be investigated and if charges were found to be accurate, committees would be set up to examine the situation further and make recommendations that would have the effect of purging the military from situations and enlisted female members of the Armed Forces would no longer suffer gender discrimination and unwanted sexual harassment.

 

When General Jon Vance, former Chief of the Defence Staff stepped down at the end of his mandate in that position, he was replaced by another general, who, like Vance, pledged he intended to fully involve himself in ensuring that the service would be freed of sexual harassment against its female members. Soon after General Vance stepped down, it became public knowledge that  he was being investigated for his own behaviour of sexual impropriety.

 

And soon after that Vice-Admiral Art McDonald, who had succeeded General Vance as Chief of the Defence Staff, was also being investigated for the very same reasons. It didn't stop just there; other high-ranking and prominent officers in the military were also revealed to have had inappropriate sexual contact with women under their command, and Vice-Admiral McDonald too stepped down from the position he had so recently been installed in.

 

Ironically, one of the major complainants, Major Kellie Brennan, who had been coerced by General Vance into a two-decade-long sexual alliance, stated that the night before Vance had been sworn in as Chief of the Defence Staff in July of 2015, he wanted to have her opinion on the text of a speech he was prepared to deliver the following day where he planned to condem inappropriate sexual behaviour, warning it would not be tolerated under his command.

 

Then-Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance responds to a question during a news conference Friday, June 26, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

 A House of Commons committee set up to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct in the military has been interviewing witnesses, and Major Kellie Brennan was one of those witnesses, one of many although her case would appear to be quite unique since it involves a twenty-year liaison with her commanding officer. Hugely inappropriate, if not illegal under military rules, engagement between a superior officer and someone under his command. Major Brennan testified hearing General Vance boast of being untouchable, that he 'owned' the military police in the process of investigating charges of sexual misconduct against him.

The Commons Status of Women Committee heard from Major Brennan that the former Chief of the Defence Staff ordered her to lie when being interviewed by military police investigating her allegations of impropriety against the general. Throughout their 20-year intimate relationship, she stated she felt she had little choice other than to continue, as a result of his senior rank, revealing that Vance fathered two of her children, testifying as well that he had not provided any financial support for those children.

A military police unit, the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, is in the process of investigating General Vance on the basis of those and other allegations, just as they are investigating his successor in the position of Chief of the Defence Staff, and other high-ranking officers, all accused of sexual misconduct. Major Brennan explained that after she had been interviewed by the CFNIS she asked whether they would investigate Vance properly in view of his elevated position, but no answer was forthcoming.

"As [Vance] told me, he was untouchable. He owned the CFNIS. I feel there will not be justice for me". She had turned audio recordings, texts and emails over to the CFNIS to aid in their investigation, but she had little-to-no confidence that the investigation would be carried out in a neutral and professional manner. The Status of Women Committee and the Commons Defence Committee both have been holding hearings into sexual misconduct in the Canadian Forces allegations. 

In a February 21 interview on Global News, Major Brennan provided details of her 20-year relationship with Vance. She emphasized that it was common knowledge among senior military leaders that they had such an inappropriate relationship; she had herself informed some of those senior military leaders. The committee also heard from Major Brennan that she had worked with Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan in Toronto at a time when he was in the military -- both of them under General Vance -- before Sajjan's appointment as Minister of National Defence.

Harjit Sajjan, an elected Liberal Member of Parliament whom Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named in 2015 to the Cabinet position of Minister of National Defence, was "under control", General Vance had informed Major Brennan. 

 

As Chief of the Defence Staff, Vance had notoriously thrown his then-second-in-command, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman 'under the bus' as a sop to a furious Justin Trudeau who accused the Vice-Admiral of having divulged Cabinet information to the press over a badly-needed supply vessel for the Canadian Navy that the Liberal government was planning to cancel.