The House of Commons’ standing committee on national defence has been probing since February sexual misconduct in the military and the handling of misconduct allegations against then-Chief of the defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance in 2018. Passage of the motion also comes in the wake of calls from a group of military sexual trauma survivors urging the committee to quickly release the recommendations from its study. The committee has heard from a number of witnesses, including Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan three times. “The defence committee has played its role in keeping the government’s feet to the fire and to bring public pressure,” he said in an email. The committee has heard that former military ombudsman Gary Walbourne tried to raise an allegation of misconduct against Vance to Sajjan in March 2018.

Source: thestar April 12, 2021 17:36 UTC