[ad_1]
Ottawa — Canada’s newly appointed Chief of Defense Chief of Defense speaks to the senior officers they work for after sending a letter insisting that their predecessors regain their position as Canada’s Supreme Military Commander. He said he felt it needed to be reminded.
“When senior military leaders were engaged, I felt I had to dive in and remind them to work for our officially elected civilian officials who represent the will of the Canadian people. “General Wayne Eyre told the Canadian press in an interview on Friday.
The comment is the first time Air has spoken publicly about Admiral Art McDonald’s controversial letter, which has been strongly criticized by the Liberal government and others since it was distributed to Top Brass last month.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Air as a permanent defense secretary nine months after he took over his acting-based position while the gendarmerie was investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against McDonald’s. ..
As a result of the investigation, no indictment was filed, so McDonald’s launched a reinstatement campaign that included a letter to a fellow officer filing a proceeding in reinstatement.
At that time, Eyre responded with his own message describing McDonald’s letter as “shocking,” and told him that they would work for elected officials while the chief defense staff served with the joy of the Prime Minister. Reminded the officers of.
He repeated the message on Friday, stating: “Because it is the strength of democracy, we need to strengthen its civil-military relations. We absolutely need to make it clear that we know who we are working for. . “
Otherwise, Air will not comment on the McDonald’s case and will provide substantive details on how it plans to deal with the widespread sexual misconduct crisis that has shaken Canadian troops over the past nine months. I wasn’t even prepared.
However, he promised that new plans to support the victims and change the military culture would be announced in the coming weeks, yet senior leaders were the result of a review of the issue of retired Supreme Court judge Louise Arbor. I am eagerly waiting for you.
The government has already accepted Arbor’s recommendation to transfer investigations and prosecutions of sexual assault cases and other criminal sexual behavior to civilian authorities.
The military has long resisted external involvement in the matter, but Friday Yale includes non-military experts and actors to deal with the current crisis that has undermined confidence and confidence in leadership. Showed a new opening to.
“I welcome external expertise, external advice, and external solutions to what we are facing,” he said. “And we have made it clear that we welcome surveillance. We will welcome external reviews to help improve the institution.”
Some experts and supporters have required the government to strengthen the military ombudsman’s office or establish an inspector general’s office, which provides independent oversight and accountability to the military. Will be done.
Asked about these calls, Eyre said he welcomed the creation of what he described as an “independent complaint mechanism” for service members to express their concerns and issues without going through a chain of command.
“It has been recommended many times and is actually back in Somalia’s investigation,” he said. “So if it’s going to restore all confidence in the Canadian Army, bring it in.”
The current crisis has caused great turmoil throughout the Canadian Army and has to leave due to the many top officers currently under investigation, or past actions.
At the same time, the military has faced unprecedented demands over the past two years as it has performed numerous missions abroad while supporting the state with a COVID-19 pandemic and increasing natural disasters.
This includes deploying troops in the recently flooded British Columbia and Newfoundland states. These increased demands came when recruitment was significantly reduced and troops were in short supply for thousands of troops.
“We are now a vulnerable organization because of the (operational) tempo and the crisis of this fraud, as the numbers are declining,” he said.
“That said, when the Canadian people, our population, are at stake, it quickly becomes the top of the priority list.”
Ayr added that during the pandemic, the number of military personnel in uniforms decreased and there were no signs that recent pushes to change military culture led to the outflow of personnel.
“If an individual leaves because we don’t like the direction we’re heading, that’s fine. I prefer quality over quantity, so it will make us better in the long run.”
NS Lee Berthiaume
follow
[ad_2]