A earlier distinctive pressures soldier is taking authorized motion towards the federal authorities, declaring he was blacklisted by his system and pressed out of the military after he knocked Canadian troopers’ supposed participation within the homicide of unarmed people in Afghanistan.
The soldier is moreover calling one present and a pair of earlier high Canadian generals that he claims lessened or fallen brief to correctly look at Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) participation within the supposed murders.
Claude Lepage, a earlier participant of JTF2, amongst Canada’s most unique and misleading military gadgets, submitted a declaration of case in Quebec Superior Court just lately. He is asking the courtroom to honor him just about $3 million in issues for the remedy he claims he obtained due to his actions as a whistleblower.
The accusations within the courtroom recordsdata have truly not been evaluated and neither the Canadian federal authorities neither the Armed Forces have truly but submitted any form of safety.
Lepage’s declaration of case declares it was his whistleblowing that led the military to carry 2 queries, referred to as the Sand Trap examinations, looking at Canadian troopers’ actions in Afghanistan and the actions of union troopers providing along with them.
It claims he skilled “discrimination, retaliatory measures, abuse of rights, serious negligence and numerous violations of his rights … after having reported to his chain of command, the execution of Afghan civilians by members of his unit and by members of a foreign government agency.”
A report originating from the queries ended Canadian troopers not did something felony inAfghanistan However, it acknowledged that they may have witnessed war crimes committed by coalition troops from numerous different nations. A drastically redacted variation of the report was revealed in 2018.
The report decried a culture of secrecy bordering dangerous targets in Afghanistan amongst Canada’s distinctive pressures.
Lepage’s accusations, at present revealed within the declaration of case, provide a house window proper into acts of revenge versus unarmed Afghans by Canadian and union troopers and query in regards to the actions of his regulating law enforcement officials regardless of extreme accusations of transgression.
A workforce of military scuba divers from JTF2 return to the anchors at Shearwater, close to Halifax, onNov 18, 2004. Images of the evasive system are uncommon. Security guards averted a CBC News skilled photographer from taking images of the surface of the system’s head workplace, Dwyer Hill, in Ottawa, onTuesday (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)
5 information of noncombatant murders
Between 2005 and 2008, whereas Lepage remained in Afghanistan functioning as a sergeant in JTF2, the courtroom recordsdata declare he reported to his pecking order 5 circumstances of Afghan personal residents or unarmed people being focused or eradicated by members of his system and members of a further federal authorities military working with joint targets with the system.
The authorized motion declares the very first passed off in December 2005. After a JTF2 helicopter was obliterated in struggle, Lepage claimed a participant of the system discharged an anti-tank instrument at a non-public residence and after that carried out a “dynamic entrance” to amaze and daunt people inside.
Then, in May 2006, the early morning after JTF2 troopers have been assaulted repetitively all through a night process, members of the system pounded quite a few noncombatant properties, the paper claims. It claims Lepage noticed the broken properties later and happy an outdated male deliver a bag loaded with human stays. The male claimed the stays have been what was left of his relations.
In the authorized motion, Lepage claimed that to his understanding there was no inside examination proper into the battles.
That July, in response to the declaration of case, an unarmed male confirmed up at a JTF2 detachment in Afghanistan together with his fingers within the air, evidently giving up amidst a process the Canadian military had truly known as “Bad Doctor.” Members of the system chewed out him to not relocate, nevertheless the detachment’s chief after that fired the male 5 occasions, eliminating him straight away.
Lack of impartiality in inside examinations: Lepage
Lepage claims he vocally reported every of those events to his pecking order and maintained a journal all through his time with the system. The capturing of the unarmed male motivated an inside examination, nevertheless the captain positioned in price of the probe, Steve Boivin, was moreover accountable of the extraordinarily process that had truly brought on the male’s fatality.
Shortly afterwards, the authorized motion claims Lepage metCol D. Michael Day, that was after that the chief of JTF2, and reported the absence of impartiality of the Bad Doctor examination together with bodily violence and aggression from a number of of his associates within the system versus the Afghan noncombatant populace.
Former priest of nationwide safety Anita Anand speaks with Maj.-Gen Steve Boivin, chief of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
The chief that apparently eradicated the unarmed male was in the end marketed to sergeant. Lepage moreover knocked this to his pecking order, in response to the authorized motion.
In November 2007, the paper claims Lepage’s associates notified him that members of a further nation’s armed drive had truly focused personal residents all through joint targets with JTF2 whereas he had truly been away for quite a few months.
The paper declares it had not been lengthy prior to now Lepage noticed it himself. In a struggle purpose on New Year’s Day, the authorized motion claims Lepage noticed the implementation of a broken Afghan noncombatant by the varied different nation’s soldier.
The struggle purpose completed with the fatalities of three unarmed people, in response to the authorized motion. When a JTF2 colonel was notified of the noncombatant fatalities, Lepage declares within the declaration that the male left of the realm and didn’t take part within the “debriefing” that complied with.
It claims that 2 weeks afterward, Lepage as soon as extra metCol Day, that was after that accountable of theCanadian Special Operations Forces Command Lepage claimed he wished to proceed participating in struggle targets nevertheless claimed he actually didn’t want to belong of targets that brought on the intentional homicide of personal residents or people that have been unarmed.
Career unwinding
The following day, the declaration of case states Lepage was despatched out residence with out description. Back in Canada, he was designated to JTF2’s coaching cell, due to this fact began the unravelling of his military job and what Lepage’s attorneys recommend exhibits as much as have truly been initiatives by the Canadian military to cease legal responsibility for the actions Lepage knocked.
A CAF instruction be aware acquired by Lepage’s attorneys claims the sergeant was repatriated to Canada from Afghanistan due to “operational stress injury,” nevertheless Lepage was by no means ever analyzed neither spoken with any form of sort of well being and wellness professional in his time with the system, in response to the authorized motion.
While Lepage was designated as a trainer on the JTF2 coaching system in Canada, CAF medical professionals detected him with trauma (PTSD). They and the pinnacle of his system, Michael Rouleau, afterward suggested he be famous as a “non-available” participant of the Canadian military.
Former Canadian Joint Operations Commander Lt.-Gen Mike Rouleau talks all through a press convention on a Canadian Forces helicopter accident in 2020 inOttawa (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
According to Lepage and quite a few medical professionals priced estimate within the courtroom paper, the situation was not primarily linked to battle targets nevertheless moderately to the anxiousness Lepage actually felt over the absence of exercise complying with examinations proper into the noncombatant fatalities.
The motion lowered his wage by over half and axed him from the elite system.
The authorized motion claims the armed drive was slow-moving to answer Lepage’s accusations of transgression and knowledge simply how the CAF simply developed the Sand Trap queries after Lepage appeared for the participation of Rom éo Dallaire, on the time a resting participant of the Canadian Senate.
In 2009, when the Sand Trap examinations have been recurring, the paper claims JTF2 pecking order knowledgeable Lepage he would possibly return to the system as an teacher on the issue that he not supply his battle journal to the Sand Trap question. In the authorized motion, Lepage claims he declined this deal as a result of the truth that it broke his worths.
Lepage’s downside enhanced all through and after the Sand Trap examinations and three numerous medical professionals claimed he will surely have the power to return to operate, in response to the declaration of case. But it claims military authorities held a convention with out medical professionals and declined to revive him proper into the system, in response to CAF detectives that afterward thought-about his scenario.
Lepage declares within the authorized motion that he was blacklisted by JTF2 in “retaliation” for his talking up in regards to the system’s participation in noncombatant fatalities.
Lepage was pressed out: Fellow troopers priced estimate
Lepage’s attorneys claimed 2 of his fellow troopers in JTF2 taped promised declarations sustaining his accusations. The initially was taped on March 13, 2013, byMaster Cpl St éphan Poirier supporting Lepage’s accusations in regards to the homicide of two Afghan personal residents all through the Bad Doctor process. Poirier claimed he and others within the system had “expressed their profound disapproval” in regards to the bodily violence. Poirier handed away by self-destruction in December 2015.
A 2nd, by a further JTF2 participant,Sgt Paul Demers, was signed up onOct 4, 2018. The declaration by Demers duplicated within the declaration of case states he was with Lepage when each males noticed a participant of a further nation’s military kill 2 unarmed Afghan personal residents.
It’s unsure in what context the declarations have been taped.
Both Demers and Poirier specified that it was understood within the system that Lepage was pressed out and handled unjustly after he elevated issues in regards to the system’s actions. Demers’s testomony defines simply how Rouleau will surely defame Lepage earlier than the system.
“Rouleau made, in my presence and in front of members of the unit, disapproving comments about Mr. Lepage’s behaviour and the fact that he denounced the death of an Afghan civilian,” in response to the testomony priced estimate within the paper. “Mr. Rouleau implied that the unit disapproved of the fact that [Lepage] denounced the situation and that the treatment Lepage received would apply to those who denounced similar situations.”
Lepage moreover declares within the authorized motion that the CAF was irresponsible in managing his paperwork. Despite 3 professional medical professionals reporting that Lepage was no extra battling PTSD and was match to stick with the CAF, the military clinically launched Lepage, specifying that his PTSD totaled as much as a long-term medical downside.
After he left JTF2 and was launched by the CAF, it took higher than one decade for a board assessing his scenario to determine that he had truly been handled unjustly and acknowledge that his launch was “unjustified.” The board suggested that Lepage receive an apology, settlement and be acknowledged as an professional of JTF2, in response to the paper.
But it claims Lepage obtained neither. As an consequence, he has truly been not in a position to take part in events with numerous different earlier members of JTF2.
The 3 regulating law enforcement officials Lepage referred to as in his authorized motion, Day, Rouleau and Boivin, all passed off to function within the highest doable tiers of the CAF. Day and Rouleau are at present retired, nevertheless Boivin is presently a lieutenant-general accountable of Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC), mainly managing most CAF procedures in Canada, North America and everywhere in the world. Rouleau previously held that operate.
In response to CBC News issues, Day composed that the accusations that brought on the Sand Trap queries have truly been “consistently refuted” which broadcasting them has a “direct impact on the well-being of those accused and exonerated of these acts.”
“They have repeatedly been proven innocent,” he composed, “and yet once again they will be the victims of media attention that will doubtless dwell on the salaciousness of the fictitious events.”
CBC News linked to the Department of National Defence andCanadian Special Operations Command A consultant claimed they will surely not remark because the authorized motion was on trial. CBC News moreover linked to National Defence Minister Bill Blair, nevertheless didn’t receive a suggestions. Rouleau didn’t reply to an ask for comment.
Lepage’s authorized motion means that granting compensatory damages will surely “dissuade and prevent future overreach by the chain of command against Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) soldiers.”
